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Chap.____^ Copyright No._ 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 















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First Utinual Review 

of the 

Copper mining Industry 
of Cake Superior. 



mining Journal Company, Limited, 

Publishers, 
marqwette, Itlicbiflan. 


i$99. 










J. M. LONGYEAR, 

MARQUETTE, MICH. 

COPPER LANDS, 

IRON LANDS, 

TIMBER LANDS, 
FARMING LANDS, 

For Sale or Cease, 

600,000 ACRES 

IN LARGE OR SMALL LOTS. 


WRITE ME FOR WHAT YOU WANT. 


-T represent tbe Lands belonging to- 

THE KEWEENAW ASSOCIATION, LIMITED, (Michigan). 

THE GOGEBIO LAND AND IRON COMPANY (Michigan). 

THE KIMBERLY IRON COMPANY (Michigan). 

THE GOGEBIO AND ONTONAGON LAND OO. (Michigan). 

THE LONGYEAR ME8ABA LAND & IRON OO. (Minn.) 

F. AYER, T. M. DAVIS, J. J. HAGERMAN, and many others. 












/ 

First Annual Review 


OF THE 

COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF 
LAKE SUPERIOR. 

CONTAINING A CAREFULLY AND CONCISELY WRITTEN ACCOUNT 
OF EARLY EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN THE LAKE 
SUPERIOR COPPER REGION; A VALUABLE PAPER ON THE 
GEOLOGICAL FORMATION OF THE COPPER RANGES; 
STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION, ETC.; AN ACCURATE 
MAP OF THE COPPER BELT, AND A FULL AND 
COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF THE PRODUC¬ 
ING PROPERTIES AND THOSE NOW IN 
PROGRESS OF DEVELOPMENT. 

* 


PUBLISHED BY 

THE MINING JOURNAL CO., LIMITED, 

’ MARQUETTE, MICHIGAN. 



TN 443 
. M5 R9 
Copy 1 




■( 


1899 









sec 


OND COPY, 

1699 . 



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9 



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.ISA 5*9 


32449 

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1899, 
By JAMES RUSSELL and ALBERT HORNSTEIN, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, 

TWO COPIES RECEIVED. 



Marquette, MiCfl. 

Press of The Mining Journal Co. Limited. 

1899. 






V 



JOHN STANTON, 

OF NEW YORK, 

Secretary ami Statistician American Copper Producers' Association. 

























































































historical Review 

«. «. of the «. «. 

Cake Superior ***** * 

Copper mining Industry. 

By horace 3. Stevens. 

Early Discoveries and Explorations. 

S TRETCHING from the southern mainland well toward the north 
shore of Lake Superior is a gigantic thumb of land, known as the 
Keweenaw Peninsula. This comparatively small area contains one of 
the richest repositories of mineral wealth known to man, and from it 
have been taken incalculable treasures in copper and silver. The 
date of its exploitation by white men is comparatively modern, 
the first actual mining of importance having been begun during the 
middle of the present century; but more than one hundred years ago 
attempts were made to open the copper mines on the banks of the 
.Ontonagon river, not far distant from the properties now known as 
the Michigan and Victoria mines. To the Jesuit fathers of the seven¬ 
teenth century, those intrepid explorers who faced peril by land and 
sea and risked death at the hands of the savage aborigines, the 
modern world is indebted for the first knowledge of the mineral 
wealth of the district. Ancient as seem the exploratory voyages of 
Marquette, La Salle, Allouez, Mesnard and Du Luth, the copper 
mines of Lake Superior had been worked in ages so far preceding 
them that forest trees requiring centuries to gain their maturity had 
grown from seedlings upon the ancient workings, flourished for other 
centuries as monarchs of the forest, and, dying from old age, had been 
succeeded by generations of other forests. To fix even an approxi¬ 
mate date for the era in which the copper mines were worked by that 
strange, pre-historic race known vaguely to us as the Mound Builders, 
is a task that has foiled the keenest research of the trained archasolo- 




4 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


gist. The most that can be said, within the bounds of truth, is that 
the ancient miners searched for copper at a date certainly many cen¬ 
turies, perhaps many thousands of years, ago. 

The pits of the Mound Builders have been found in the three coun¬ 
ties of Keweenaw, Houghton and Ontonagon, in which copper mines 
are now worked, but mainly in the latter county, which has been most 
prolific of the three in heavy masses of copper. Latter-day copper 
mines operating in the Lake district divide their mineral product into 
three classes, known at the mines as mass, barrel and stamp copper. 
The masses are sometimes of enormous size, two having been found 
which weighed over five hundred tons each, and were worth at the 
time of their discovery nearly half a million dollars each. The 
barrel work consists of small masses of copper weighing from a few 
pounds upward to a size rendering the pieces too large for the 
barrels, and are then called masses. The stamp copper varies from 
nuggets of some little size to microscopic flakes so light that they float 
upon water and are lost in the tailings of the stamp mills because 
their minute size renders them apparently independent of the laws of 
gravitation. The ancient miners did not attempt either stamping or 
smelting, but confined their operations to the search for masses of 
native copper of sufficient size to hammer into weapons and rude 
utensils. While they were lacking in the technical education and the 
powerful machinery which enable the nineteenth century miners to 
descend a full mile below the earth’s crust, and stamp thousands of 
tons of solid rock into sand daily in a single mill, the Mound Builders 
knew copper when they saw it, and it is a matter of record that where- 
ever one of their old pits was located a modern mine has been opened. 
Several of the large mines of Ontonagon county are opened upon the 
shallow pits dug centuries—or mayhap thousands of years—before by 
the original discoverers of Lake Superior copper. 

Float copper, torn by glaciers from the outcroppings of the 
Keweenawan lodes and dropped in moraines hundreds of miles dis¬ 
tant, is occasionally found in many localities east of the Mississippi 
and north of the Ohio rivers. These pieces of native copper are 
occasionally of several hundred pounds weight and have given rise to 
various wild mining schemes on the part of the finders. That such 
pieces of float copper were occasionally found and utilized by the 
ancients it is but reasonable to presume; but the extent of the ancient 
workings in Ontonagon county can leave no doubt that the bulk of 
the copper supply of the Mound Builders came from Lake Superior 
mines, which were regularly and painstakingly wrought for very long 
periods of time. One of the interesting relics of the race which dis¬ 
appeared from the continent of America before the white man first 
put foot on it was discovered in Ontonagon county, where a large 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


o 


mass of copper, several tons in weight, was found mined from its 
native bed and reposing on stone skids several feet above the hole 
from which it was taken; a portion of the mass had been chiseled 
away, and about the pit were found various stone and copper tools. 
What accident, or disaster of war, famine or pestilence prevented the 
return of the old miners to their copper mass affords conjecture for 
the ethnologist and archaeologist, who have labored strenuously, 
though with but scant success, to reconstruct for modern eyes the 
primeval race that performed this work. 

Interesting finds of hardened copper tools and weapons have been 
made in many mounds throughout the eastern and northern states, 
and at the old copper mines of the Ontonagon district. There are 
various collections of these relics, corroded and covered with green 
carbonate of copper from the action of the elements, the most com¬ 
plete collections being located in the Smithsonian and National 
museums at Washington, and at the Michigan College of Mines, 
Houghton. The ancient workmen possessed the secret of hardening 
copper, now one of the lost arts, but at their best the copper tools 
were sadly inferior to the keen cutting blades and instruments of steel 
and its alloys employed by those who live in modern days. 

But we must leave that ancient race, whose name and tongue and 
habits will ever remain a mystery to us, but whose gigantic mounds 
testify to a comparatively high degree of civilization, and whose 
abandoned mines have so often formed the starting point of far great¬ 
er mines in this later age. The southern shore of Lake Superior from 
Sault St. Marie, on the rapids of the lake’s outlet, to Duluth, at the 
extreme head of the great fresh-water sea, was populated by the 
Chippewa Indians, from the time the first white man gazed upon the 
inland ocean until the advance of the white race shouldered the poor 
aborigines into the nooks and corners yet occupied by the remnants of 
an Indian tribe once among the most populous in America, and which, 
despite abuse and trickery, has always remained the white man’s 
friend—a tribe which, until goaded by systematic villainy and robbery 
to revolt at Leech Lake, in Minnesota, in the late fall of 1898, never 
raised a weapon in war against the white race. The existence of cop¬ 
per was known from early times to the Chippewas, but their legends 
do not reach back to the time of the Mound Builders, who may have 
disappeared before the advent of the Chippewas, or traditions regard¬ 
ing whom may have been gradually lost in the gloom of centuries. 
The Indians knew of the existence of copper at various points along 
the southern shore of Lake Superior and on Michipicoten island, but 
did not make use of the metal, contenting themselves with picking 
up an occasional small copper nugget, which was regarded with awe 
as pertaining to a strong and troublesome Manitou, who was possess- 


6 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


ed of a bad temper, consequently worthy of all respect, but not a de¬ 
sirable acquaintance at close range. One of the Chippewa legends re¬ 
lates to copper found on Michipicoten island, which lies some sixty 
miles north of Sault St. Marie, and bore a bad name among the aborig¬ 
ines as the abode of a crabbed deity named Missibizzi, an amphibious 
god who had small liking for the Red men, and whose habit it was to 
paddle his island from point to point on the waters, occasionally 
anchoring his several hundred square miles of marine real estate near 
the mainland, while at other times his fancy would be to locate it 
many leagues from shore in the blue waters of the lake. 

The misanthropical nature of the owner and the erratic habits of 
the island gave the latter an ill repute among the Indians, who rarely 
landed there except in stress Gf weather. The evil reputation of the 
island was made worse by the experience of four Chippewa braves 
who landed upon it in a fog, many generations before the advent of 
Pere Claude Allouez, in the middle of the seventeenth century, and to 
whom the story of the unfortunate quartet was told. The Indians 
landed on the island from their birch-bark canoes in a dense fog, 
which detained them there for some hours. Becoming hungry, they 
caught some fish and cooked them in the usual manner. A fire was 
built on the sandy beach, stones were heated in it and then transferred 
to a birch bark trough containing water and the fish. The hot stones 
soon brought the water to a boil and thus cooked the fish. The 
stones which they used for cooking were of ruddy color and very 
heavy. The Indians decided to take these peculiar stones home for 
their children, and when the fog lifted a trifle embarked in their 
canoes for the mainland. They had proceeded but a short distance 
when Missibizzi appeared on the island, at the spot which they had 
just left, and demanded in thunder tones who were the robbers who 
had stolen the playthings of his children. Missibizzi did not pursue 
the unwitting robbers, but one of them was so badly frightened that 
he died before landing and a second expired as the canoe touched 
shore. The survivors started for the Indian settlement, but one died 
on the way. The fourth and last man reached the tribe and told the 
story, exhibiting the ruddy copper as corroboration, and himself died a 
little later; after which time the island of Michipicoten, Missibizzi 
and copper, were reverenced and shunned by the savages as most po¬ 
tent and dangerous medicine. It is not difficult to get at the truth of 
this apparently improbable tale, and the pious Allouez, who possessed 
great store of native shrewdness, furnishes an explanation which 
seems highly plausible. The savages cooked their food with heated 
copper nuggets. Partial oxidation of the copper, which had doubtless 
been long exposed to the elements, caused a poisonous chemical prod¬ 
uct which killed the Indians a few hours after eating the fish. A 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


7 


thunder storm upon the island furnished the supernatural voice, and 
the sickness and terror of the Indians gave rise to the exaggerated 
tale of the survivor. 

Even as late as fifty years ago the Chippewas regarded copper 
with superstitious awe. Reposing in the National museum at Wash¬ 
ington there is a mass of native copper of something like two tons in 
weight. This mass lay for centuries on the hanks of the Ontonagon 
river and was shown to several of the early missionaries by their 
Chippewa proselytes. The existence of such a copper boulder was 
known to the natives and rumored among the pioneers who first 
reached Ontonagon in the early forties. Among these hardy ex¬ 
plorers was James K. Pauli, a Virginian, known to all the older min¬ 
ing men of the copper country as hunter, trapper, miner and hotel 
keeper—a staunch friend and a very uncomfortable enemy. Pauli 
reached the shore of Lake Superior with a yoke of oxen, which he 
drove from southern Wisconsin through several hundred miles of 
wilderness, both the cattle and Pauli reaching their goal, emaciated 
but full of pluck, in the spring of 1842. Pauli learned of the mass of 
copper and decided that it should be his. Getting into the good 
graces of a petty Indian chief, he secured a promise from the lat¬ 
ter to guide him to the location of the mass of native metal. Accom¬ 
panied by one white friend, Nick Miniclear, and carrying rope and 
tackle to remove the boulder from its bed beside the stream, Pauli 
followed the Chippewa guide, taking along his trusty muzzle-loading 
rifle, in case they should run across a deer, for venison was as steady an 
article of diet with the pioneers of Lake Superior as mutton is today with 
the shepherds upon the South American Pampas. As the little party 
neared the site of the mysterious mass of metal the guide became per¬ 
ceptibly nervous and ill at ease. Pauli became suspicious, and would 
not allow the Indian to leave his sight. Finally the guide explained 
that it was absolutely necessary that he be allowed to consult his 
Manitou upon the business in hand; and he was allowed ten minutes 
for the conference, with the stipulation that he remain in plain 
sight. At the end of the allotted period the Indian announced that 
his Manitou had peremptorily refused to allow the white man to see 
his copper treasure; whereupon Pauli leveled his rifle at the Indian’s 
breast, and announced that he also had been in consultation with the 
white man’s Manitou, and that the latter had given the most impera¬ 
tive orders that the rock be located within a quarter of an hour, fail¬ 
ing which a blood sacrifice would be demanded forthwith. The big cop¬ 
per boulder was speedily found around the next bend of the stream, and 
was displaced and loaded on a raft, with much labor. It was floated 
to the mouth of the river, at the village of Ontonagon, where it was 
confiscated by one Julius Eldred, in the name of the government. 


8 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


Eldred took the boulder to Washington and presented it to the gov¬ 
ernment as his little contribution to science, and it was received with 
deep gratitude, where to this da}' it stands with the name of Julius 
Eldred as the munificent donor. Jim Pauli and the Chippewa guide 
had their labor for their pains. 

The first knowledge given Europeans of the existence of native 
copper on the far-distant shores of Lake Superior was conveyed in the 
book published by one La Garde, at Paris, in 1636. The work con¬ 
tained a narration of journeys taken among the Indians of the new 
world by the author. Although containing much matter of value, 
and many facts previously unknown in France, the work is marred by 
a variety of fairy tales which lead the reader to suspect that the 
author either embellished his story with many details not warranted 
by the facts, or got much of his material second-hand from untrust¬ 
worthy sources; and perhaps La Garde was guilty of both offenses. 
But let his shortcomings be forgiven, for his was the first information 
given the civilized world that there was copper on the shores of Lake 
Superior; and he lived in a credulous age, and where the mingling of 
superficial European learning with aboriginal tradition could but give 
rise to some remarkable tales. 

In the “Relacion de ce qui s’est passe dans le pays des Hurons”, 
published at Paris in 1660, appears the first mention by the Jesuits of 
Lake Superior copper, which is rather vague and evidently from 
hearsay, for the early Jesuit fathers who explored the Northwest 
were wise men, versed in worldly knowledge, and, while endeavoring 
to lead the natives to the cross, took keen account of the geography, 
soil and minerals of the far countries they traversed. In a later 
volume of the “Relacion” there is a chapter contributed by Father 
Claude Allouez, the second white man to see the native copper de¬ 
posits, and certainly the first to write about them with even an ap¬ 
proximation to the truth, unless the reports of Pere Rene Mesnard, of 
doubtful authenticity, are taken into consideration. Father Mesnard 
left Quebec in the fall of 1660, wintered on Keweenaw Bay in the 
vicinity of the present village of L’Anse, and in the following spring, 
presumably in April, started for Chequamegon Bay, on which the 
city of Ashland now fronts. His Chippewa guide reported that he 
wandered from the trail in making the two-mile portage between 
Portage Lake and Lake Superior, and it is certain that he was never 
seen again. It has been surmised that he was murdered by his 
guide, but the uniformly friendly relations existing between the 
Jesuits and the Chippewas, since the day of the first missionary two 
hundred and fifty years ago, render it probable that the Indian told 
the truth. Pere Claude Allouez was the second missionary to view 
the country now known as the Lake copper district, and he pushed his 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


9 


journey further, reaching LaPointe, on Chequamegon bay, founding 
there in 1665 the Jesuit mission which is still in existence. Follow¬ 
ing Allouez came Fathers James Marquette and Claude D’Ablon, who 
founded the mission at La Sault de Sainte Marie. The bones of Mar¬ 
quette rest in the little churchyard at St. Ignace, not far from the 
Sault and facing upon the blue expanse of the Straits of Mackinac, 
which connect the waters of Lakes Michigan and Huron. A fine 
statue by Trentanove stands in Statuary hall of the capital at Wash¬ 
ington, donated by the state of Wisconsin in memory of the intrepid 
explorer who did so much for future generations, and a fine bronze 
replica of the same statue stands in the city of Marquette, overlook¬ 
ing the fresh blue waters upon which the missionary-explorer voyaged 
in his birch bark canoe more than two hundred years ago—worthy 
mementos of a good man. 

A French nobleman, the Baron Le Houtan, explored the southern 
shore of Lake Superior in the latter part of the seventeenth century, 
and published a book upon his voyage, in which reference is made to 
the copper deposits in such manner as to render it certain that the 
author himself saw and handled the metal where it was found, though 
the worthy gentleman made the mistake, still much too common, of 
calling that ore which was in truth virgin copper. De Charlevoix 
visited Lake Superior in 1721, in the course of his extensive explora¬ 
tions, which included almost the entire length of the Mississippi 
river, and wrote shrewdly and with truth of the native copper which 
he saw along the shore and in the hands of the Chippewas, who 
hoarded it, and regarded the copper nuggets with superstitious 
reverence, without attempting to make practical use of the metal. 

To one Capt. Jonathan Carver is due the credit of stimulating the 
first attempt to develop the copper wealth of Lake Superior. The 
worthy captain met with many strange adventures in the Northwest, 
in the course of a three years’ journey, beginning at Green Bay in 
1765, and comprising a return trip, during which he coasted along the 
southern shore of Lake Superior, and found native copper at the 
mouth of the Ontonagon river. The captain seems to have been a 
versatile and genial gentleman, and one who was untrammeled by 
false modesty or too high regard for the truth, judging from the vol¬ 
ume published by him in London in 1770— or perhaps he “syndicated” 
the story, and the Grub-street hack who wrote it put in the high 
lights with which the volume is lurid. At any rate it is safe to say 
that the captain saw many things in many strange lands, and whoever 
wrote his book lied about them prodigiously. The captain’s literary 
reputation might not have suffered shipwreck so soon had not his 
tales of marvelous mineral wealth led to the formation of a copper 




10 COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 

mining company in London, organized to exploit the copper of the 
Ontonagon district. 

Meanwhile, one Alexander Henry, an Englishman by birth, 
adventuresome, and a pioneer hunter, trapper and explorer by choice, 
visited the mouth of the Ontonagon river in 1765 and again during the 
following year. There was at that time a considerable Chippewa vil¬ 
lage there, perhaps the largest on the lake to the westward of Sault 
Ste. Marie. Henry, on the occasion of his second visit, was shown the 
big copper boulder which Jim Pauli later took from the Indians, to 
have it in turn taken from him by Julius Eldred. Henry estimated 
the weight of the metal at five tons, all native copper; and he, by 
dint of much labor, contrived to cut from the parent mass a 
slab of copper of nearly a hundredweight, which he took back 
with him to Sault Ste. Marie. In 1771 there appeared at the Sault 
a party of “miners” sent over by the London company, armed 
with royal letters patent and all other things needful to coax 
the ruddy metal from its primal bed. Henry was an old trapper, 
versed in the Indian tongues, and had himself seen and even brought 
away with him the metal for which the London company longed. He 
was forthwith engaged to assist in the enterprise, and took the entire 
party to the Ontonagon in a sloop of forty tons, which he had built the 
preceding season—the first covered-deck vessel ever sailing the waters 
of the great lake. The “miners” worked during the winter of 1771-2 
on an adit driven from the Ontonagon river just above high water 
level and near the copper boulder referred to. With the spring thaw 
the clay through which the tunnel was driven collapsed, filling the 
adit and discouraging the workmen so that the project was 
abandoned, no attempt being made to even secure the five-ton mass 
of native copper, which merely required cutting up and carrying away. 
As the tunnel would have had to pass through red sandstone for 
about a mile before reaching the copper formation, the wisdom of 
abandoning the enterprise at so early a stage is fully apparent at this 
later date. 

Nearly three-quarters of a century elapsed between the ill-starred 
English attempt at copper mining and the making of another attempt 
in developing mines, the latter proving successful, as it was under¬ 
taken with.a better understanding of the situation. In passing, it 
may be remarked that succeeding English attempts at Lake Superior 
copper mining have invariably resulted in the same unsuccessful man¬ 
ner as the first, though English miners from Cornwall have opened 
nearly every one of the successful copper mines of the Lake district. 
The trouble with the English corporations seems to be just the same 
in the nineteenth century as it was in the eighteenth century—con¬ 
fiding capitalists place their funds in the hands of incompetent 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


11 


people and the money is frittered away. With millions of pounds 
looking for investment, and with Cornish miners opening paying 
properties in every quarter of the world, it seems both strange and 
pitiable that our English cousins have naught to show for Lake 
Superior copper investments but a few musty maps, old reports, and a 
store of worthless stock certificates, made in the highest style of the 
engraver’s art. 

During the unsettled period between the War of Independence 
and the War of 1812, little was heard of the copper measures of Lake 
Superior. The voyageurs of the Hudson Bay company traversed the 
district frequently, but they were after furs and copper had no attrac¬ 
tion for them. Then came John Jacob Astor, but he was after furs 
also, and his employees cared for peltry only. There died in 1898, at 
L’Anse, a man who came to the Lake Superior district in 1822, and 
resided continuously at L’Anse until his death, more than three- 
quarters of a century -later. Peter Crebassa settled in L’Anse as 
resident agent and buyer for John Jacob Astor in 1822, and lived there 
for a quarter of a century before the first copper mine was .opened. 
It seems deplorable indeed that his recollections were not garnered, 
before his death, by some conscientious historian; for with his demise 
there passed away much knowledge of early days which can never be 
replaced. The history of modern copper mining in Michigan really 
dates from 1830, for it was in that year that Dr. Douglass Houghton 
first visited Lake Superior, in company with Gen. Lewis Cass. In 
the early years of the century Ohio and Michigan both claimed the 
few hundred square miles now comprising Lucas county, Ohio, in 
which is located the thriving city of Toledo. Ohio was the older and 
more powerful commonwealth; hence the disputed territory was 
awarded that state, despite much vaporing on the part of Michigan 
partisans, during the course of which war with all its horrors was 
semi-officially declared on several occasions, by patriotic Michiganders. 
As a recompense to the aggrieved residents of Michigan, who had 
perhaps the best claim to the territory in dispute, the eighteen-thou¬ 
sand-mile tract of land now comprising the upper peninsula of Michi¬ 
gan was generously donated to that state by the federal government. 
The people of Michigan protested against the gift, saying bitterly 
that the district was worthless. However, they finally accepted it, 
and it is now the richest portion of the state. 

Dr. Douglass Houghton is regarded by all loyal residents of the 
Michigan copper and iron districts much as George Washington is 
thought of by the country as a whole, for it was the genius, the abili¬ 
ty and the remarkable foresight of Dr. Houghton, carried to fruition 
by indefatigable effort, which gave the world its first true idea of the 
mineral wealth of the lake district, Dr. Houghton was one of the 


12 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


early mayors of the city of Detroit and a man in whom scientific at¬ 
tainments were happily balanced by the soundest sense and a pre¬ 
science truly remarkable. Later scientists, following in his steps, 
have carried forward the scientific development of the district far 
beyond where he left it when cut off by accident in his prime, but his 
work, so far as done, has never required doing over; and it is along 
the lines laid down by him that progress has been achieved since his 
death. The village of Houghton, the financial and intellectual cen¬ 
ter of the great Lake Superior copper country, owes it to the zealous 
scientist for whom it was named to erect a suitable monument in en¬ 
during bronze to the man to whom the district is so much indebted. 

The first visit of Dr. Houghton to Lake Superior determined the 
trend of his future life. He was fascinated by the possibilities of the 
district, geologically and commercially. In the following year, 1831, 
he returned to the district with the Schoolcraft expedition, and vis¬ 
ited the copper boulder in the Ontonagon river, from which he chis¬ 
eled several large pieces of copper, one of which remains in the pos¬ 
session of his brother, Jacob Houghton, now of Detroit. The School¬ 
craft expedition, sent out by the general government to determine the 
source of the Mississippi river, was unsuccessful in the main object of 
its search, but gathered much valuable information regarding a por¬ 
tion of the union about which much less was then known than is now 
on record regarding our far northern territory of Alaska. Dr. Hough¬ 
ton, whose standing in the young state was of the highest, succeeded 
in awakening sufficient interest in the upper peninsula to secure a 
small appropriation from the legislature for a geological survey, at a 
time when but for his efforts the plan would have been laughed at as 
the project of a visionary. Even as it was, the appropriation was a 
pitifully small one; but every dollar was made to do double duty, for 
the work was a labor of love with Dr. Houghton, and he rallied around 
him as able and devoted a body of lieutenants as ever seconded a great 
general in battle. Among them were his younger brother, still liv¬ 
ing, Jacob Houghton, of Detroit; William A. Burt, the inventor 
of the solar, or dip, compass, an instrument invaluable to geologists, 
and of especial use in the iron formations of the district; C. 0. Doug¬ 
lass, Bela Hubbard, S. W. Hill and others. The initial work of the sur¬ 
vey was successfully performed under the most adverse conditions, but 
the first report to the legislature was not made until 1841, when Dr. 
Houghton was able to lay before the citizens of the state indisputable 
evidence of the great mineral wealth existing in a region which had 
been generally regarded by even the well informed men of that time 
much as the desert of Sahara is thought of today—a large expanse of 
territory containing little or nothing of value, and incapable of 
affording sustenance to civilized man. From 1840 dates the first gen- 



HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


13 


eral interest in the Lake Superior copper region, which is in many res¬ 
pects the greatest and richest mineral district of the world. Private 
capital began to make inquiries regarding opportunities for invest¬ 
ment, and was given the fullest information at the command of the 
geological survey—for the work of Dr. Houghton was that of the 
scientist and patriot; all that he learned was at the command of the 
world, and no attempts were ever made by him to secure for himself 
any portion of the riches which he laid bare to the gaze of all who 
cared to look. 


Cbe First “So©” Canal. 

In the year 1840 the federal government was called on to assist 
the state of Michigan in the development of the Lake Superior region, 
and the United States donated 100,000 acres of land to the state of 
Michigan to assist in the building of a ship canal around the rapids of 
St. Mary’s river, the outlet of the lake, where an eighteen-foot fall 
effectually impeded navigation for anything larger than the batteaux 
of the French voyageurs, for which a small canal had been dug on the 
Canadian side of the river by the Hudson Bay company, .early in the 
century. While this bill was before the senate, Henry Clay took oc¬ 
casion to refer to the measure in facetious terms, stating that the pro¬ 
posed canal would reach to regions “beyond the remotest range of settle¬ 
ment in the United States, or the moon”. Another Kentuckian, nearly 
a third of a century later, immortalized both himself and a Lake Su¬ 
perior town, then a hamlet but now a great and growing city, in a speech 
both satirical and eloquent, wherein he described the future destiny 
of “the Zenith City of the unsalted seas”. Proctor Knott lived to be 
feted by the citizens of Duluth, and to witness with his own eyes the 
realization of the prophecies which he had made a quarter of a cen¬ 
tury before in an ironical spirit. The earlier and greater Kentuckian 
died before the “region beyond the moon” had more than fairly given 
promise of future greatness; but even before his death the point of his 
satire had been turned from the far-distant region toward himself. 

The first ship canal, toward which the government gave the 
lands, was completed in 1857. It was a stupendous work for the poor 
and newly-settled commonwealth of Michigan to undertake, but 
never was money better invested. A second and larger canal was 
completed by the government some twenty years ago, and the third 
and greatest canal was opened to commerce in August, 1896. The 
tonnage passing through the Sault canal is now the heaviest in the 
world, far surpassing that of the famed Suez canal, built at such cost 
of life and treasure through the sands of Egypt. Henry Clay was 
Perhaps a great statesman, but certainly a poor prophet. 


14 


COPPER MIKING INDUSTRY OE LAKE SUPERIOR. 


Geological Surveys. 

In 1844, Dr. Houghton was engaged by the general government to 
combine a linear survey of the lands on the southern shore of Lake 
Superior with the geological and topographical survey then in prog¬ 
ress for the state. This allowed the opening of mines, for before 
the surveying of the lands by the government no title could be given 
to lands desired by settlers or miners. Great progress had been made 
in this work when Dr. Houghton met with an untimely end, in 
October, 1845. While off the Keweenaw peninsula, on the great lake, 
his small boat was overtaken by a sudden squall and all on board 
but one man were drowned. Dr. Houghton’s corpse was recovered in 
the following spring, and the body now lies buried in Detroit. The 
work which he had begun and carried to partial completion was con¬ 
scientiously pursued by his successors, chosen from among his assist¬ 
ants, but his death was a great loss to science and to the state and 
district. 

A geological survey by the Federal government was begun in the 
year after Dr. Houghton’s death, under direction of Dr. Jackson, who 
was succeeded in the work two years later by Messrs. Foster and 
Whitney, eminent scientists, and whose joint work on the Lake 
Superior mineral districts remains to this day a standard authority. 
In 1842 the Chippewa Indians ceded some 30,000 square miles of their 
lands to the United States, the cession comprising the entire southern 
shore of Lake Superior. The cession was made under the usual pres¬ 
sure and for the usual consideration—reservations further west, belong¬ 
ing to other tribes, who had also traded their lands for a few gallons 
of rum and a few plausible promises which Uncle Sam has never 
carried out, and probably never will make good. With the acquisi¬ 
tion of title and the surveying of the ground fair opportunity was- 
given for the exploitation of the mineral resources of the new country. 
In 1842 John Tyler was president, and his secretary of war, under the 
management of which department the Chippewa treaty and cession 
was secured, was David Henshaw of Boston. The occupancy of the 
war department by Mr. Henshaw was one of the apparently trivial 
matters upon which the future history of the district hinged, for Mr. 
Henshaw was an enthusiastic believer in the future of the Lake dis¬ 
trict, and it was through his personal solicitation and assurances that 
the first capital was invested in copper mining; since which date 
Boston money has almost invariably opened every new copper mine, 
and many millions of dollars have been added to the wealth of that /' 
city by the red metal dug from the hills of Lake Superior. 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


15 


mining Permits and Eand Cities. 

Early in 1843 the war department appointed Walter Cunningham 
a special agent for the purpose of granting mining permits in the 
Lake Superior district; as at first no mineral lands were sold outright. 
As early in the late spring of that year as the opening of lake naviga¬ 
tion would allow, Capt. Cunningham opened an office at Copper 
Harbor, the first mining settlement on the shores of Lake Superior. 
James Pauli and Nick Miniclear, who came overland from the lead 
mines of Platteville, Wisconsin, in midwinter, arriving at the shore 
of the lake in March, 1843, were the first miners to reach the district 
subsequently to the ill-fated Henry expedition of 1770. With the 
opening of navigation in 1843, there was a rush for the copper fields, 
and a score or more of prospective miners reached Copper Harbor on 
the same boat as the government land agent, and, securing permits, 
began searching for copper at once. There was copper everywhere, 
and embryo millionaires were as many in number as the numerical 
force of prospectors; but it was soon found that float copper did not 
mean the existence of a mine, and that all copper lodes and veins were 
not sufficiently productive to pay for opening. 

The mining permits issued by the government at first allowed 
nine square miles to each prospector; but a few months later were re¬ 
duced to cover but one square mile each. One year was allowed for 
prospecting and nine additional years for mining, on a royalty of 20 
per cent. The only people who really secured substantial profits from 
these mining concessions were those who sold them at fancy figures. 
Copper was found everywhere, from the beach along the lake shore for 
as many miles back into the forest as the prospectors went. Many 
valuable copper deposits were thus located of which succeeding gen¬ 
erations of miners and geologists have been unable to discover the 
slightest trace. The existence of a central belt of trap rock, carrying 
copper-bearing amygdaloid and conglomerate lodes, and traversed by 
cupriferous fissure veins, had been shown by the labors of Dr. Hough¬ 
ton and his assistants, but the geological experts were calmly ignored 
by the “miners”, grown wise through a few months’ or even a few 
weeks’ residence in the district; and as many copper mines were 
located on the sandstone formation, which abuts unconformably upon 
either side of the trap belt, as were located within the limits later 
ascertained to mark the boundaries of the district within which 
native copper could be found in place. It was a wild and happy time, 
when every new-comer found a mine without difficulty, with graceful 
deer thronging the forest, awaiting the coming of the hunter who was 
to convert them into venison, while every brook held schools of 



16 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


speckled trout which struggled for the privilege of swallowing the bit 
of red flannel which concealed the treacherous hook of the angler. 
The early forties in the copper district were days of heavy drinking, 
of mingled feasting and fasting, of hard labor and of carousing. A 
small post of federal troops was stationed at Fort Wilkins, on 
Keweenaw point, but the troops were never called on to suppress 
rioting, subdue violence or maintain order. The pioneers were a wild 
and hardy lot, but honest and neighborly, ready to strip off the coat 
for a fist fight on slight provocation, yet ever-ready to divide the last 
biscuit with a new-comer or hungry wayfarer. Of fighting, feasting 
and fasting there was much, but of murders and robberies almost 
none. No vigilance committees were ever required in the early days 
of the lake copper district, which was perhaps the only great mining 
district of the world so suddenly populated without disorder and 
violence, and which did not finally require the services of Judge 
Lynch in the promotion of order and to bring the wicked to a real¬ 
izing sense of the sanctity of life and property. The copper country 
was never a wicked or turbulent district, even when officers of the 
law were fewest and litigation was commonly settled by a stand-up- 
and-knock-down fight between the plaintiff and defendant. It has 
never been a lawless district, and there is perhaps less disorder at 
present in Houghton county, with its 75,000 souls, than in any other 
county in the United States of equal population. On the last pay-day 
at Calumet, before the writing of this sketch, eight thousand men re¬ 
ceived their monthly wages and not a single arrest was made for 
drunkenness, disorder or crime on that or the following day, by the 
six policemen who form the entire constabulary of a mining camp of 
over 40,000 souls. 

The system of permits adopted by the government was not a success, 
and after two years’ trial was abandoned. Impinging claims were 
common, and in some cases overlying permits were piled up three or 
four deep. The Federal authorities decided that the lands should be 
sold, as surveyed, for $5 an acre. Later this price was modified, and a 
uniform figure of $1.25 per acre affixed on all government lands. The 
Calumet & Hecla is at present taking nearly 100,000,000 pounds of re¬ 
fined copper annually from the conglomerate lode underlying twenty 
acres of surface—a product valued at $18,000,000, taken from under 
land which cost $25. 

Inauguration of Practical mining. 

From the explorations of the first three years but few mines re¬ 
sulted. That such proved the case is not at all surprising, for the 
men who inaugurated the modern era of copper mining were in most 



PHOTOCRAPHED BY A. F. ISLER, HOUGHTON, MICH., FROM THE HANCOCK SIDE. 

LAKE LINDEN. 































HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


17 


cases neither practical miners nor geologists. They were in search of 
mines of native copper, and located claims on the sandstones with as 
much confidence as on the trap formation. Native copper exists at a 
number of points on the globe, but nowhere except in the Lake Su¬ 
perior district is native copper mined in quantities to be considered 
of importance. The copper supply of the world, previous to the 
fourth decade of the nineteenth century, had been obtained almost 
exclusively from copper ores, mainly sulphurets and carbonates, and 
nearly all raised from the mines of Cornwall, Spain and Germany, 
where there are copper ore mines of great antiquity. Julius Caesar 
found the natives of West Britain mining tin and copper when he in¬ 
vaded the island, in the century preceding the Christian era, and there 
are ample grounds for thinking that the ancient Phoenicians traded in 
Britain nearly ten centuries before the birth of Christ, and that tin and 
copper were then being mined and smelted in Cornwall. The native 
copper of Lake Superior was an anomaly, and it is not to be wondered 
at that many mistakes which now appear ludicrous, but were then 
perfectly natural, should have been made by the pioneer miners of 
the Michigan copper district. With 1846, when it became possible to 
obtain title to mineral lands from the government, there came an 
era of saner development, and the first real mines of the district were 
opened. Men of scientific attainments were sent to the district to 
develop mines, and the vanguard of the great host of Cornish miners, 
which has reached our shores in a never-ending procession for more 
than fifty years, arrived to supplement with their shrewd, practical 
knowledge the theories of the men who were skilled in book-lore but 
deficient in the practice of mining. In the year 1846 the Cliff mine 
was first opened, and this property, now idle, is unquestionably the 
oldest in the district as amine, although cursory scratching of the 
ground was done at several other points where real mines were opened 
in later years. The masses of native copper found on the shores of 
the lake and rivers proved too infrequent to be remunerative, and the 
attention of miners was turned to the finding of copper ores, power¬ 
fully impelled thereto by the first Cornishmen who reached the dis¬ 
trict. They regarded the masses of native metal as lusus naturce , but 
the copper ores were familiar to them. Fissure veins, crossing the 
formation at approximately right angles, were located at a number of 
points, and from them were taken considerable quantities of copper 
ore in the form of sulphurets, carbonates and oxides. One feature, 
both of the lodes running parallel with the formation, and the fissure 
veins crossing them transversely, which disquieted the practical 
miners from Cornwall, was the changing of the mineral deposits from 
ore to native copper at slight depth. The copper lying near surface, 
originally native, had been oxydizedby countless ages of exposure to 
2 


18 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


the elements; but at a little depth the black oxides and green carbon¬ 
ates were replaced with the virgin metal. The Cliff mine was opened 
on a fissure vein, and the first product of the Cliff company was some¬ 
thing under fifty tons of black oxide, taken from a fissure vein near 
Copper Harbor. At a little depth the ore disappeared, but was re¬ 
placed with native copper in such profusion that the vein was fol¬ 
lowed steadily until it was worked out, some twenty years ago—for all 
fissure veins have their ending, though the conglomerate and amygda-- 
loid lodes are known to pass entirely under Lake Superior and reap¬ 
pear on the earth’s crust on Isle Royale, forty miles to the northwest 
of the Keweenaw peninsula. The Pittsburg & Boston Mining com¬ 
pany, which was the official title of the corporation operating the 
Cliff mine, was organized in 1844, began actual mining in 1846, and 
paid its first dividend, of $10 per share on 6,000 shares, in 1849, thus be¬ 
ing the first mining corporation in date of organization, the first mine 
opened, and the first dividend-paying property in the district. Until 
just previous to the payment of the first dividend the stock sold at 
far below subscription price, and in 1847 nearly half of the sharehold¬ 
ers forfeited their stock in preference to paying a small assessment. 
Fortunately, both for the district and for themselves, the other 
shareholders raised the required sum, and-after assessing the compara¬ 
tively small sum of $111,000 between 1844 and 1848, the mine paid its 
first dividend of $60,000 in 1849, and continued paying large profits 
until it was finally abandoned, returning in all the magnificent total 
of $2,518,620, or more than $22 profit for every dollar invested. The 
Pittsburg & Boston company paid regular semi-annual dividends 
from 1850 to 1857 inclusive; the smallest being $30,000, while the larg¬ 
est was $120,000. 

Copper in Ontonagon County. 

Although the first real mine was opened well toward the northern 
end of the Keweenaw peninsula, the desultory work of the early 
prospectors soon after bore fruit in the Ontonagon district, where the 
Minnesota was the first and largest of the mines ever opened there. 
The middle stretch of the copper range, wherein are now located all 
of the largest and most profitable mines of the Lake Superior copper 
district, was the last of the three fields of the Michigan copper country 
to be opened. The early explorers spent considerable time and labor 
in the central district, but with small results, and abandoned it in .dis¬ 
gust. They were looking for fissure veins and mass mines, whereas 
the Houghton county or Portage Lake district is exceptionally rich in 
strong stamp lodes, and remarkably deficient in the fissure veins, which 
are both numerous and productive in Ontonagon and Keweenaw 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


19 


counties, on either side. The Minnesota mine was opened on a contact 
vein, and was regarded with suspicion by the “experienced” men of 
that day for that very reason, it being then held that only the true 
Assure veins would pay to work. Fortunately, the Minnesota dis¬ 
appointed the prophets of evil—then, as now, too numerous for the 
welfare of the district—and on January 1, 1854, Ave years after its Arst 
opening, rewarded its shareholders with a dividend of $90,000; thus 
becoming the second proAt-paying mine of the Lake copper region. 
The Minnesota paid regular dividends for more than twenty years, its 
last payment of $10,000, in March, 1875, being a fractional dividend of 
50 cents per share, paid preparatory to abandoning the mine, and 
completing the handsome total of $1,820,000 returned to the share¬ 
holders in a triAeover twenty-two years, on an original investment of 
$380,000. To the Minnesota belongs the distinction of having yielded 
the largest mass of native copper ever taken from the earth. It was 
found at a depth of about 220 feet, in 1855, and weighed a triAe over 
563 tons, requiring the services of forty men for six months to cut it 
into pieces small enough to permit of hoisting to surface and trans¬ 
portation to the east. As. copper was then worth about 50 cents per 
pound, it requires but small mathematical talent to demonstrate 
that the value of this little nugget was upwards of a half million dollars. 
The second-largest mass ever secured in the district, or for that 
matter in the world, was raised from the Central mine a few years 
later, and was of approximately 500 tons weight. Although the Min¬ 
nesota mine was abandoned in 1876, it is held by many of the oldest 
and wisest miners of the district that further exploration would be 
more than apt to reveal the continuation of the contact vein from 
which nearly two million dollars in proAts was secured. The Michi¬ 
gan Mining company now owns the Minnesota property, and although 
mining work is at present being conAned to the “Calico” stamp lode, a 
promising amygdaloid, it is the intention of the management to 
eventually cross-cut to a point under the old workings, at considerable 
depth, which will effectually demonstrate the truth or falsity of the 
theory before noted. 

No further dividend-paying properties were developed until 1861, 
when the National, an Ontonagon county property adjoining the 
Minnesota, paid its Arst dividend. In 1862 the Pewabic, now a portion 
of the Quincy, made its Arst division of profits, thus being the first 
Houghton county mine to enter the ranks of the dividend payers. It 
was followed a few months later, in 1863, by the Franklin and Quincy 
mines, its immediate neighbors on either side, and both have made 
handsome records of profits since that date, the Quincy standing 
next to the Calumet & Hecla in dividend payments among the Lake 
copper properties, and ranking among the twenty most profitable 


20 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


mines of the world; in which list the gigantic Calumet & Hecla stands 
second only to the Consolidated California & Virginia, the greatest 
property of the Comstock lode, of Nevada—and in which list the 
Calumet & Hecla will take first place early in the coming century. 
In 1864 the Central mine, in Keweenaw county, began dividing profits, 
and has already paid nearly 32,000,000 to shareholders, with a valuable 
property remaining, although the fissure vein on which the mine was 
opened has been worked out. In 1869 came the Hecla, and in the fol¬ 
lowing year the Calumet, the two being consolidated, to form the 
peerless Calumet & Hecla, in 1871. Later accessions to the list of 
dividend-paying lake copper properties have been as follows, in the 
order of their advent: Ridge mine in 1873, Phoenix in 1877, Atlantic 
and Osceola in 1878, Tamarack in 1888, Kearsarge in 1890 and Wol¬ 
verine in 1898. Out of the great number of new properties now being 
opened it is as certain as any future event can well be that a number 
of dividend payers will come under the wire, probably closely bunched, 
very early in the twentieth century. Of the mines named among the 
latter dividend paying properties, the Ridge is in Ontonagon county 
and is now a portion of the newly organized Mass Consolidated Min¬ 
ing company, all the others being in Houghton county. The Kear¬ 
sarge is now a portion of the Osceola Consolidated, having been 
merged in that corporation, together with the Tamarack Junior and 
Iroquois, in 1897. 

Production and Capitalization. 

The records regarding the production of copper by the Lake mines 
are far from complete, but nearly one hundred corporations are cred¬ 
ited with having actually produced and marketed refined copper. In 
this list there are many duplications—as for instance the Centennial 
and Schoolcraft, the property having been opened as the Schoolcraft 
on the Calumet conglomerate lode in 1869, and reorganized as the Cen¬ 
tennial. The old Albany & Boston mine later became the Peninsula, 
and in 1895 passed under control of the Franklin company, and is now 
known as the Franklin Junior. The Belt property was also known as 
the International and Bohemian, and credited with copper production 
under all three names. The task of untangling and verifying the fig¬ 
ures of production is comparable only to the labors of Sisyphus, ever 
approaching completion and anon requiring to be done over from the 
beginning. One fruitful source of confusion is the copper credited to 
tributors. In former days it was the fashion for mining companies, 
when they became embarrassed for funds—which was very frequently 
with the great majority—to let miners get out what copper they 
could on shares. 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


21 


In the early days of Lake Superior mining the capitalization was 
very small, one company having been organized at Boston in the early 
forties with only 1,200 shares, par value $100 per share, while another 
company had but 3,000 shares, par value $10 each. The largest stock 
issue of any of the early mines was 6,000 shares. It was not until the 
civil war period that the state of Michigan finally took cognizance of 
the importance of the copper and iron mining interests of the Lake 
district, and passed a comprehensive mining law, one which, with 
slight modifications, still stands on the statute books, and is justly re¬ 
garded as the best state mining code in the union, as it calls for full 
annual reports and limits the issue of stock, while providing that all 
mining shares shall be issued at the par value of $25. The mining 
laws, as originally passed by the Michigan legislature and approved 
by the governor nearly forty years ago, provided for a maximum capi¬ 
talization of 20,000 shares. This law was later amended, largely for 
the convenience of the Calumet and Hecla mines, which desired to 
consolidate, permitting the issue of a maximum of 100,000 shares, 
thus allowing a capitalization of $2,500,000. It was at that time 
thought that the sum named was as large as any of the mines could 
reasonably hope to grow to, but in the light of the developments of 
the early months of 1899, when Calumet & Hecla sold at $895 per share, 
or at the rate of $89,500,000 for the entire property, the maximum 
fixed by the state seems a trifling sum. A bill is now before the legis¬ 
lature, with apparently good prospects of passage, allowing the in¬ 
crease of capitalization by 50 per cent, above the present maximum. 

In this connection, while the subject is perhaps not strictly ger¬ 
mane to an historical article, a few words may be said regarding capi¬ 
talization and par values. The facts stated should be carefully con¬ 
sidered by investors residing outside of the mining district, who, as a 
rule, pay scant attention to the number of shares and inquire closely 
into the par value of the stock issue. This process should be reversed. 
The par value of Michigan copper stocks—at least when organized 
under Michigan laws, as is the case with the great majority of Lake 
copper mines—is perfunctorily placed at $25, whether the actual cost 
of the company’s realty, personal estate and cash working fund be $1 
per share or $20 per share. The really important point is the number 
of shares into which the property is divided. For purposes of specu¬ 
lation it seems to matter but little, so far as the price per share is 
concerned, whether the company has 20,000 shares or 100,000 shares, 
but when the time comes to divide profits, if they be earned, the prof¬ 
its from copper which will pay a $5 per share dividend on an issue of 
only 20,000 shares will pay but $1 per share on the maximum capitali¬ 
zation. At present the Central mine has the smallest capitalization 
of any copper company whose shares are traded in on the Boston ex- 


22 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


change, the property being divided into only 20,000 shares. Several of 
the inactive Keweenaw county mines, such as the Washington and 
others of its class, whose shares are active at times, have stock issues 
of 40,000 shares, while among the dividend-paying properties the 
Wolverine and Tamarack have 60,000 shares each. Judging from the 
course of the market for copper shares during the past six months, the 
average investor never stops to consider whether he is buying one 
part in twenty thousand or one part in a hundred thousand, with each 
share, and it is probable that both the Tamarack and Wolverine 
could easily have issued new stock to the maximum limit without 
seriously depressing the selling price of their shares. The pinch 
would be felt later on, when these properties, both of which are divi¬ 
dend payers, would be forced to reduce their dividend rates, even 
when distributing the same sums in profits, semi-annually. 

Another point regarding mining shares, which is also scarcely 
germane to the history of the copper district, but which should be 
carefully digested by the investors who know little or nothing of 
actual mining and mining procedure, is the matter of assessable stock. 
There is a general impression prevalent in such circles that a non¬ 
assessable stock possesses certain advantages. This theory will not 
stand investigation. A mine is apt to be an expensive property to 
develop, and there is no other mineral district in the world where as 
much money is required to open a property and set it on a profit-pay¬ 
ing basis as in the lake copper district. This is due partially to 
natural conditions and largely to the exceptionally broad and far- 
seeing policy which has ruled for many years, with some exceptions, in 
the development of Lake Superior copper mines. The successful 
copper mines of this district, without exception during the past third 
of a century, have been opened on a large scale, equipped in the most 
substantial manner, and fortified in every way by the best machinery, 
men and methods possible to secure. These things cost money, but 
the richest copper deposit in the district could not be worked profit¬ 
ably at present under the crude methods of the pioneer days, when 
copper sold at fifty cents a pound and even higher. The first miners 
looked for fissure veins carrying big masses. The big mines of the 
present day are without exception opened on the sedimentary and 
eruptive lodes, which yield stamp-rock mainly, though occasional 
masses are met with. The development of a stamp-lode means the 
expenditure of hundreds of thousands of dollars before the mine can 
be made to pay, no matter how rich in copper it may prove. The 
Calumet & Hecla, unquestionably the richest, deepest and mo^t 
profitable mine in the entire world, would have proven a flat failure 
had it been opened ten years earlier than was the case. Larger 
initial investments are required wittqevery year that passes; yet the 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


23 


investments in copper mining grow safer as they grow larger. Given 
a lode of merit, it is but a matter of money, brains and labor to 
develop a paying mine, for the bottoms of the Houghton county 
copper mines are grass roots on Isle Royale, forty miles to the 
northwest in the blue waters of Lake Superior; and the internal heat 
of the earth will in all likelihood put a stop to copper mining many 
miles above the deepest point of the copper bearing lodes. Even now, 
the temperature of the rock at the bottom of the Red Jacket 
vertical shaft of the Calumet & Hecla is 87 6-10 degrees. Fortunately, 
this temperature is reduced somewhat by the use of compressed air 
in the power drills, so that the miners are enabled to work in fair 
comfort at the depth of 4,900 feet below the earth’s surface. 

In view of the necessity for heavy investments, the desirability of 
an assessable stock is apparent. If the management of the mine has 
no means of raising funds to prosecute necessary development work 
and complete equipment, no matter how promising the mine may 
appear, a reorganization is necessary, and such action inevitably means 
the temporary abandonment of all work and lengthy legal proceedings 
which depress the selling price of the stock nearly to the zero point. 
Fortunately for the best interests of the investors and of the copper 
district, the organizers of the many new copper companies floated 
during the past eighteen months have, without a single exception, 
recognized the cost of adequate development work, and have started 
their corporate existence with cash working funds of anywhere from 
$250,000 to an even million dollars in the treasury of each. 

The traveler who today visits the thriving cities of Houghton, Han¬ 
cock, Lake Linden or Calumet, and views on every hand evidences of 
wealth, culture and refinement, can have but the haziest comprehen¬ 
sion of the struggles of the pioneers who laid both broad and deep the 
foundations on which are built the abundant prosperity prevailing in 
these towns at the close of the nineteenth century. How is it pos¬ 
sible for the traveler who is whirled in a palace car up the mountain¬ 
ous hillside from Hancock and thence over the rolling plains of the 
Keweenaw peninsula’s backbone toward Calumet, to comprehend that 
thirty years ago there was dense forest where there are now busy 
mining camps, interspersed with peaceful farms and pasture lands; 
and how much harder for him to understand that a third of a 
century past there was an unbroken forest of tall pine trees, undis¬ 
turbed save by the hooting of the owl and the snarling of the lynx, 
upon the site now occupied by Calumet, the greatest and most popu¬ 
lous mining camp of America? Such visions of the past may be 
conjured in his brain, through the smoke of a cigar, as he gazes 
through the car window upon the fleeting panorama of mines and 


24 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OP LAKE SUPERIOR. 


fields; but the pioneers of the forties and fifties who still live must 
sometimes rub their eyes to comprehend the reality of the present. 

Cransportation facilities in the Early Days. 

When copper mining was first begun in the early forties, Lake 
Superior was a terra incognita—using the words “Lake Superior” in 
the sense the pioneers still use them, to distinguish the southern 
shore of the lake, and not the waters of Gitchee Gurnee itself. There 
were a few sailing vessels of small burden upon the lake, and at Sault 
Ste. Marie, which was as far as steamers could ascend, owing to the 
rapids of St. Mary’s river which drains the inland sea, the pioneers 
bade farewell to civilization. The small sailing craft usually hugged 
the southern shore rather closely, for the lake was but poorly charted, 
and a storm upon its bosom was like a storm upon the salt seas. The 
frowning ramparts of the Pictured Rocks were encountered before a 
third of the distance was traversed, and at that point the sailing mas¬ 
ters hugged the shore only on calm days or with a favoring wind, for 
a sterner lee shore is not presented to the harassed mariner upon the 
seven seas—sheer walls of red sandstone, sculptured by the billows of 
untold ages into castles, pillars, spires and minarets of most awful 
sublimity, and holding forth to the unfortunates thrown upon them no 
hope save of a speedy death. As the early settlements were all made 
upon the western shore of the Keweenaw peninsula, between Copper 
Harbor and the mouth of the Ontonagon river, it was necessary for 
the early navigators to sail boldly to the northwestward after leaving 
Marquette, braving the perils of the hideous reef at Stannard rock 
and the violent winds of the open lake. That accidents were so few, 
and safe voyages the rule, speaks well for the seamanship of the early 
navigators of the big lake. 

Arrived at the scene of their future labors, whether at Copper 
Harbor, Eagle River, Ontonagon or some later settlement, the pio¬ 
neers were under the necessity of building their own homes. Fortun¬ 
ately, material was ready at hand, and it required but strong and 
willing arms to speedily erect log cabins, rude in design and construc¬ 
tion but rich in their housings of brawn and brain and hope. The 
summers were not bad—to be exact, the seasons were highly enjoy¬ 
able from late May until early November. The explorers brought 
with them flour, coffee, tea, bacon, salt and pepper. Baking powder, 
that friend-in-need of the modern explorer, was then unknown, but 
flour and water in the shape of pancakes cooked upon the embers of a 
camp-fire were eaten with a relish by the pioneer, tired by a day’s 
tramping or digging, and with an appetite whetted to an acute point 
by the ozone of the waters and the piney breath of the solemn forest, 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


26 


which stretched its unbroken length for hundreds of miles to the east, 
the south and the west, while to the north the meeting line of the 
lake and the sky loomed apparently in mid air. For the hardy pio¬ 
neer there was always a fresh cut of venison, if he would but take his 
gun to some near-by runway of the red deer; while the little streams 
that brawled over sandstone bottoms toward the lake were rich in 
speckled trout, ever hungry and then unwary of the angler’s lure. 
The catch that is now made with infinite cunning and the aid of 
many rods and flies was then secured with a bit of red flannel or a 
few earth-worms. 

There were neighbors too, close at hand in the little villages on 
the lake shore; while in the forest the pioneer might find them at 
many miles distance. There were calls from occasional trappers, and 
from the Chippewas. The Indians all professed the Catholic faith, 
thanks to the zeal of the early Jesuit fathers and the unremitting 
labors of their successors. Perhaps the Christianity of the children 
of the forest was but skin-deep in some cases, and the brave who 
smoked his pipe of kinnikinnic, made from the tender inner bark of 
the sumac, before the hospitable camp-fire of the pioneer, may have 
harbored strange fears of heathen gods, the evil Manitous, the 
Missibizzi, and have reflected upon the disappearance of the half- 
mythical Hiawatha, who had sailed into the depths of the blue sea lying 
before the stolid dreamer’s gaze, never to return; but the religion of 
the Indian was deep enough in spots. He never stole from his white 
neighbor, and never did he raise the hatchet in enmity against him. 
Even had no statues of marble and bronze been reared to him at 
Washington and in the city that bears his name upon the waters of 
the lake he sailed so many years ago, Father Marquette would have 
an enduring monument in the truth and honor and humanity of the 
dusky-skinned Algonquins, whom he called his children, and to whom 
his life was devoted. 

Then there was the voyageur, the courrierdu bois, who knew the 
forests as a scholar knows his books, and was ever a merry companion 
and a staunch friend. Of French-Canadian parentage, the 
voyageur oftener than not had Indian blood in his veins, and the 
forests held no secrets from him. Wherefore should he carry a com¬ 
pass in the trackless wilderness, for had not nature placed her sign 
posts even in the deepest tangle of the dark woods? Were there not 
the sun by day and the myriads of twinkling stars by night? And if 
these failed and the sky was overcast, did not the pointed trees ever 
incline toward the rising sun and the moss grow upon the northern 
sides of the trees? Why a compass, indeed, to him who roamed the 
forests as much at home as is the dweller in crowded cities who 
threads the maze of familiar streets? 


26 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


The voyageur and the courrier du hois are now things of the past, 
at least in the country lying south of Lake Superior; though they are 
still to he found a thousand and even two thousand miles farther 
north, where the mink and otter, the heaver and the lynx are yet 
found, and where the muskox roams the desolate tracts along Hudson 
Bay. The French voyageur has left the shores of the great lakes, but 
he still exists in the remote corners of the continent, and it is well 
that the genius of a Gilbert Parker has arisen to tell us the truth in 
fiction about this picturesque character, who must ever recede before 
the advancing waves of civilization. 

In the winter the pioneers were cut off from the outer world by a 
barrier of ice and snow. Navigation upon the lake became danger¬ 
ous in November, and the supplies for the long season of snow were 
all laid in before the ice in the harbors rendered it impossible for 
vessels to land their cargoes. The first steamboat plying the waters 
of Lake Superior was the propeller Independence, which was port¬ 
aged from the lower lakes at theSault, and made her first trip in 1845. 

This little propeller Independence, the first steam vessel on Lake 
Superior, must have been a remarkable craft in somethings, as the 
greatest speed ever claimed for her was five miles per hour, when not 
beset by head winds. She ended her honorable if not glorious career 
by bursting her single boiler while lying at the wharf at Sault Ste. 
Marie in 1847. In the spring of 1846 the side-wheel steamer Julia 
Palmer was safely portaged past the Sault, a prodigious labor, as the 
vessel was of 240 tons burden. For some years she plied the lake, being 

considered a floating palace, as she was not only much larger than 
the Independence, but actually made two miles an hour greater speed, 
with favoring winds. Several other steamers were portaged at the 
Sault and sailed Lake Superior, previous to the opening of the first 
ship canal in 1857. As the copper mines began shipping considerable 
quantities of their product, and as rich iron mines were opened in , 
Marquette county shortly after the beginning of copper mining, the 
question of getting freight from and to the mines became a serious 
one. Early in the fifties a strap-rail tramway was built at Sault Ste. 
Marie, by means of which cargoes between upper and lower lake ports 
were trans-shipped with a fair degree of expedition and economy, but 
the operation of the tram line was discontinued with the opening of 
the ship canal in 1857, when free access to Lake Superior became pos¬ 
sible to every sailing and steaming vessel plying the lower lake. 

When the last vessel had cleared and sailed for Sault Ste. Marie, 
or had perchance been caught by early ice and forced to winter at 
Copper Harbor or Ontonagon, the pioneers settled down to a life of 
toil and monotony, relieved by occasional dances, where a calico dress 
was good enough for any woman, and every woman was an undisputed 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


27 


belle. The male residents occasionally broke the irksomeness of their 
existence by a Saturday night spree, frequently walking twenty or 
more miles for the opportunity of again mingling with mankind and 
exchanging their hard-earned money for whisky which, from all ac¬ 
counts, was as vile as the worst. These drinking bouts usually wound 
up in a fight, wherein every man felt at liberty to select an antagonist 
and have it out with him to his heart’s content. The fighting was 
with fists; knives and guns being barred by universal consent. 
Fortunately fighting and drunkenness usually moderated toward 
spring, the reason therefor being that the dispensers of “forty-rod” 
almost invariably underestimated the consumptive capacity of their 
clientage, and as the winter waned found their supplies running short. 
When the last barrel was tapped, it was customary to pour in enough 
water though the bung at the close of each night’s business to refill it. 
There being a limit to the virulence of even “fortv-rod”, there 
necessarily came a time when none but the veriest tyro could absorb 
enough of the diluted beverage to acquire a “fighting load”, and com¬ 
pulsory sobriety ruled until the first vessel began unloading more of 
the article which killed the tenderfoot at forty rods and crazed the 
most hardened at short range. 

All ordinary means of communication with the outer world were 
cut off with the departure of the last vessel in the fall from the rocky 
haven of Copper Harbor. The government officials usually left on the 
last boat, at such times as they had not left on a previous one, re¬ 
turning in the spring. Unhappy were the junior officers who were 
left to uphold the dignity of the government and defend the sanctity 
of the flag at Fort Wilkins; and during the long and apparently inter¬ 
minable winter many a young gallant sighed with envy as he thought 
of the balls and sprees at which his superior officers were assisting. 
The federal government determined, at an early date, that some means 
of winter communication must be opened with the Lake Superior 
settlements, and the only practicable arrangement was found to be the 
running of an overland mail from Green Bay to Copper Harbor, via 
Marquette. In the early forties Green Bay was relatively a much 
more important town than at present, being the oldest established 
settlement in Wisconsin, and at that time nearly as populous as Mil¬ 
waukee, and having been, until a few years previous, a larger town 
than Chicago. There were no railroads west of New York state, 
though a beginning was being made by the state of Michigan, in the 
lower peninsula, on what has since become the great Michigan Central 
system. As there were no roads north of Green Bay, and the trails 
were unsuited for horses except in summer, owing to the deep snows, 
the mails were carried on sleds drawn by dogs. The drivers were 
almost invariably recruited from the ranks of the voyageurs and 


28 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


courriers dubois, who were of French-Canadian extraction, with oftener 
than not an admixture of Chippewa or Ottawa blood. For these men the 
forests had no terrors. Clad in furs and blankets they calmly faced 
the terrible temperatures of the far northern winters, ranging as low 
as fifty or more degrees below zero. In this connection it may be 
stated that the coldest recorded temperature accurately taken in the 
United States, outside of the arctic appanage of Alaska, was noted 
three winters ago at Deer River, less than one hundred miles west of 
the head of Lake Superior, where a registering spirit thermometer 
noted a temperature of sixty-seven degrees below zero, Fahrenheit. 

The dogs driven by the mail-carriers were but little less wild than 
the grey timber wolves which ranged the forest, murdering sleep for 
such of the settlers as had not become used to their dismal howlings. 
A dog is perhaps the most intelligent animal of the four-footed tribes, 
but he lacks the tractability and devotion to labor of the horse or ox. 
A good dog will fight for his master and will give up his own life in de¬ 
fense of those he loves; but as a day laborer or beast of burden he is 
not always a success. There is an irksome something about steady 
work which is as little liked by the dog as by the Gypsy. For this rea¬ 
son, driving a dog team is not as pleasurable a calling as might be in¬ 
ferred by those unacquainted with canine nature when under harness. 
Dogs that are the best of friends if free will fight on small provocation 
when harnessed together and pulling a heavy load. Dog teams were 
the only available means of communication, so they were used; but it 
happened all too frequently that the dogs sulked at bad roads or over¬ 
heavy burdens and the postman-driver lightened their loads. In the 
days of the overland mail between St. Joe and Sacramento, the drivers 
unloaded their superfluous mail sacks on the plains for the benefit of 
the untutored savage, but the Michigan driver of the dog train was 
more conscientious. The burdensome sacks were hung in the crotches 
of convenient trees, whence they were removed and forwarded on some 
following trip when roads were better. This was easy on the dogs but 
hard on the people who awaited letters from friends or loved ones, and 
at times annoying to those who were expecting important business let¬ 
ters. There was usually a grand clean-up of delayed mail in the 
spring, after the snow was gone; and the “spring mail” was a heavy 
one, just previous to the arrival of the first vessel. 

The forest couriers who carried the mails in winter traveled on 
snowshoes, for the dogs were usually overburdened with the weight 
of sledge and mail sacks. The round trip from Green Bay to Copper 
Harbor by way of Marquette was a full six hundred miles, and to make 
it on snowshoes in charge of a dog-team carrying government mails 
was not a sinecure. Peter White, of Marquette, who came to the 
Lake Superior district as a boy in his teens, fifty years ago, is perhaps 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


29 


the only survivor of the old-time mail carriers. He made the trip sev¬ 
eral times when still a stripling, and his reminiscences are full of the 
most delightful mingling of fact and fancy. To listen to Peter White’s 
recollections of the days of long ago, during which recitals he assumes 
the name of Pierre Le Blanc and with it the French-Canadian patois, 
is a pleasure only to he appreciated by those who have once enjoyed 
his inimitable mingling of fact, fun and philosophy, delivered in the 
quaintest jargon of French-English. 

Pioneers of tbe Copper District. 

Occasionally there were others than the mail carriers who made 
these winter trips on snowshoes, for pressing reasons. Among the 
number of those who repeatedly traversed the unbroken forests in 
days of long ago is JohnSenter, a pioneer of the Keweenaw district, 
and now residing, in honored age and well-earned affluence, in the 
village of Houghton. Five times did Mr. Senter make the journey on 
snow shoes between Copper Harbor and Green Bay, or points beyond 
that northern Wisconsin town. One of these mid-winter jaunts, made 
in the middle fifties, contained all the requisites for a thrilling 
romance. A certain important strike of copper in a Keweenaw mine 
greatly enhanced the value of the property, but the discovery was 
made in mid-winter and there was apparently no means of getting 
the news to the east except by the slow mails of that time. Mr. 
Senter and a few friends decided that there would be money in 
the purchase of shares of the mine, which were at that time selling 
for a low price, owing to the poor prospects of the property previous 
to the rich discovery. The mail advice would reach Boston within a 
few weeks, but there would then be no opportunity of buying the 
stock cheaply, as the news would speedily become known to all. At 
that time, more than forty years ago, Mr. Senter was in the prime of 
a young and vigorous manhood, and what that meant in his case can be 
inferred by those who still see his rapid, swinging walk, or witness 
him alert and speedy upon his bicycle at upwards of seventy years of 
age. A trip to the nearest telegraph station, then at Appleton, Wis¬ 
consin. was hastily decided on. Clad in mackinaws and furs, and with 
a stout pair of Chippewa snowshoes strapped to his moccasins, with 
compass, gun, matches and a slender store of provisions, the intrepid 
pioneer set forth upon his three hundred and fifty mile jaunt, in the 
dead of winter, over four feet of snow, with the thermometer hover¬ 
ing about the freezing point of the mercury, which is at forty degrees 
below zero. The trip was made in safety in less than two weeks, 
the first three hundred miles through an unbroken forest, where the 
flight of the startled deer, the scream of the lynx and the howling of 


30 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


the timber wolves were of daily, and even almost hourly, occurrence. 
The pioneers had hearts of oak and sinews of iron, but in this case 
they were richly rewarded. The fateful messages with orders to buy 
were dashed over the wires from Appleton within two weeks after the 
discovery had been made on the distant shores of the big blue lake, 
and that dangerous mid-winter journey laid the foundations of several 
large fortunes. The latter day speculator, who sits in an easy chair in 
a warm office at Houghton or Marquette, near a telegraph wire at the 
other end of which is an operator within two hundred feet of the stock 
exchange in Boston, may know a trifle about the uncertainties of cop¬ 
per stock speculation; but of the hardships and dangers of the past he 
can have only feeble comprehension. 

Of the Lake Superior pioneers of the forties there are now but a 
few remaining with us. Among the number is D. 1). Brockway, better 
known to all old residents of the copper district as “Dad” Brockway. 
Accompanied by his wife, he came to Lake Superior in 1839, from the 
state of New York, three years after their marriage, and settled at 
L’Anse in the year named, Mr. Brockway acting as government 
mechanic at the little post established there. Five years later came 
the opening of the first copper mines, on the near by Keweenaw penin¬ 
sula, and in 1846 Mr. and Mrs. Brockway removed to Copper Harbor, 
building the first permanent residence and hotel in that place. In this 
building Mr. and Mrs. Brockway lived for just half a century, remov¬ 
ing from it in 1896 to spend their last years with their children in 
Lake Linden, where Mrs. Brockway breathed her last on March 3, 
1899, sincerely lamented not only by her immediate family but by 
thousands who had at various times come to know and love the good 
old couple. Mr. Brockway, in addition to being the first hotel keeper 
of the copper district, was engaged for many years in the general 
merchandise trade at Copper Harbor and the Cliff mine, and was agent 
of the Northwest mine for some years. Since the death of Peter 
Crebassa there is no question that “Had” Brock way is the oldest 
living settler of the entire Lake Superior district. 

Among the pioneers of the copper country whose labors 'were 
crowned with the greatest success were Columbus C. Douglass and 
Ransom Shelden. Mr. Douglass was a cousin of Dr. Douglass Hough¬ 
ton, and Mr. Shelden was married to the sister of Mr. Douglass. C. C. 
Douglass was early engaged by Dr. Houghton as an assistant on the 
geological survey, and, through his years of association with Dr. 
Houghton in the practical exploratory work carried on under the 
auspices of the state, became an expert geologist and a recognized 
authority on the copper formation. In 1846, at the solicitation of his 
brother-in-law, Mr. Shelden left his home at Bigfoot Prairie, Wal¬ 
worth county, Wisconsin, and with his wife and two eldest children, 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


31 


Carlos D. and George C., then mere youths, sailed from Southport, 
now Kenosha, on a steamer, for Mackinac island, thence by another 
steamer for Sault Ste. Marie. From the Sault to Portage Entry pas¬ 
sage was taken in the schooner Napoleon, commanded by Capt. McKay, 
father of George P. and John McKay, well known to early settlers of 
Lake Superior as steamboat captains of more than ordinary ability. 
John McKay was lost some years ago by the foundering of the ill-fated 
steamer Manistee. Ransom Shelden reached Copper Harbor with his 
wife and two small children, no cash, and a pair of strong arms 
directed by a clear head, in which sterling honesty and strong common 
sense were ever the controlling factors. At Copper Harbor he found 
a potato famine. Without a dollar in the world he chartered a small 
coasting schooner immediately after his arrival and set out for 
L’Anse, where he secured a cargo of potatoes on credit, and returning 
with them disposed of the entire lot at a handsome profit. After 
paying all expenses there remained $300 in cash, and from this capital 
was built up one of the largest and wealthiest landed estates in the 
country. Shelden removed with his family to L’Anse in the fall of 
1846 and remained there till the following spring, when he went to 
Portage Entry and there built a dwelling, store and warehouse, and 
engaged in trade with the Indians. The house was of logs, but the 
store and warehouse were of framed and sawed lumber, their superior 
finish attracting the admiration of every Indian within trading dis¬ 
tance. Here the family lived for four years, and here a daughter, 
Christine M., now dead, was born. The nearest white neighbor was at 
L’Anse, twelve miles distant across the waters of Keweenaw bay and 
twice as far by land. The Shelden boys roamed the forest and lake 
shore with copper-colored playmates of their own age, and it is through 
this companionship that the eldest son, Carlos, now representative in 
congress from the Twelfth Michigan district, acquired a perfect 
mastery of the Chippewa tongue and an insight into woodcraft which 
has stood him in such valuable stead in the intervening years. Even 
today Mr. Shelden speaks the Chippewa language as fiuently as any 
Indian brave, and many a dark-skinned forest companion of his boy¬ 
hood days has found in him a staunch friend in later years. 

In the summers of 1849, 1850 and 1851, the elder Shelden did much 
exploring. C. C. Douglas, was at that time in charge of a copper mine 
at Rock Harbor, Isle Royale, and later at Ontonagon, as superintendent 
of the Flint and Fire Steel mines. While in the latter place he en¬ 
deavored to get Shelden to join him, holding out flattering induce¬ 
ments, but the Wisconsin farmer flatly refused, giving as his reason 
the opinion that there was more copper in the Portage Lake district 
than in Ontonagon and Keweenaw counties combined. At that time 
he was alone in holding this opinion, but his remarkable judgment 


32 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


has been verified in later years, for a single one of the mines of Port¬ 
age Lake, the great Quincy, has paid larger dividends than all of the 
mines of Keweenaw and Ontonagon counties combined, and every 
dividend-paying mine of the Lake copper district is now located 
in Houghton county. In 1851 Mr. Shelden removed to the Quincy 
mine, on the high hill north of Portage Lake, to which Mr. Douglass 
had come from Ontonagon county as agent. Shelden continued his 
summer explorations and gradually gathered together most copious 
field-notes of the Houghton county copper range, covering the timber 
and agricultural possibilities, as well as the mineral prospects. 
Promising tracts were bought from time to time as money was 
obtained. In these ventures he was joined by Douglass, and the avail¬ 
able funds of both were locked up in lands as rapidly as the money 
was raised. Until the day of his death, more than twenty years ago, 
the elder Shelden was always a poor man, so far as cash resources were 
concerned, for every dollar above taxes and necessary living expenses 
was invested in lands. How well these were selected is best shown by 
the sales made during the past three years by the Shelden-Douglass 
estate, which has disposed of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth 
of choice mineral lands, and in so doing has sold but a small fraction 
of its original holdings. There never was but one settlement between 
these partners, and that was merely a rough division of a portion of 
the lands, shortly before the death of Douglass. The sons of the 
original partners carry on the real estate business as the fathers began 
it, and the partnership begun more than fifty years ago by the 
pioneers is still intact, long after their death. 

In 1854 Mr. Shelden removed to the site of the present village of 
Houghton and constructed a log dwelling and a log store. The dwell¬ 
ing, which was the first house erected in Houghton, occupied the site 
of the livery stable on Shelden street, at present conducted by Cou- 
lornbe & Roi. The log house was torn down later, and Mr. Shelden 
built two houses on the southern side of Shelden street, one of which 
was later removed to make room for the quaint, roomy, rambling 
building now known as the Shelden homestead, while the other house 
still stands, in the same block and on the original site, being occupied 
by Mrs. John Rice. 

The first mine—if it be worthy the appellation—opened in the 
Portage Lake district was the “Wheal Kate”. Its existence has been 
forgotten by all but the oldest residents of the copper country, and it 
would be a difficult matter to locate it exactly by the musty old rec¬ 
ords in the county court house vaults, but its site is marked by the 
massive hill arising back of the Atlantic mine and visible for many 
miles in all directions. This little mount, also known as Wheal Kate, 
is the highest 'ground in the state of Michigan. All Portage Lake 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


33 


explorations and mines were abandoned in 1847, the lack of fissure 
veins and large masses of native copper discouraging the early explor¬ 
ers. A few years later work was resumed at several of the more prom¬ 
ising explorations, including the Quincy. After the return of Doug¬ 
lass to the district, as agent of the Quincy, Shelden succeeded in inoc¬ 
ulating his partner with some of his own enthusiasm regarding the 
district, and the scientific training of the latter soon led him to appre¬ 
ciate the importance of the discoveries made by Shelden; who, from a 
farmer and fur-trader, had within a few years developed into one of 
the shrewdest judges of mineral values in the district. Messrs. 
Shelden and Douglass jointly opened the Isle Royale mine, the first 
copper producing property of permanence developed on the Houghton 
side of Portage Lake. Among the many mines later opened by these 
partners were the Portage, Albion, Shelden, Douglass, Concord, Arcad¬ 
ian, Columbian, Huron, Dodge and Jefferson. During his latter years 
Ransom Shelden became interested in a number of local industries, 
prominent among which was the foundry and machine shop later sold 
to S. E. Cleaves, and now known as the Portage Lake Foundry and Iron 
Works. It was a proof of the ability of the man that even in this line 
of effort he was among the number who helped achieve the remark¬ 
able results in foundry practice that have made Lake Superior hard 
iron the world’s standard. Even today there is no foundry outside of 
Portage Lake which even pretends to duplicate the work regularly 
turned out of the three iron-working establishments of Houghton and 
Hancock. It is considered a remarkable feat in the best foundries of 
the world, outside of this district, to make a casting having a half-inch 
chill—yet the foundries there are turning out stamp-shoes every work¬ 
ing day in the year which are chilled to a depth of two and even three 
inches—that is, the shoes have an inner core of cast iron and an outer 
jacket two to three inches deep of the finest-quality steel. It is for 
this reason that the foundries and machine shops of Portage Lake 
send their products to every mining state in the union, to Australia, 
Mexico, South America and South Africa. They simply have no com¬ 
petitors in this particular branch of metallurgy. 

Wm. B. Frue, long a resident of Houghton, was a pioneer mining 
man of far more than ordinary ability. Perhaps his most sensational 
achievements were made at Silver Islet, just off the Canadian main¬ 
land on the north shore of Lake Superior. Here»he developed the rich¬ 
est silver mine ever opened, on a mere reef, which was overswept by the 
waves in every gale. To recount his work on Silver Islet would re¬ 
quire many pages, which cannot well be spared for use upon a Canadi¬ 
an silver mine in a brief historical article upon the Michigan copper 
district. Capt. Frue was prominent in the copper district, and at his 


u 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


death left a comfortable estate in copper shares, which have since ap¬ 
preciated to many times their value at the time of his demise. 

Quincy A. Shaw, now a resident of Boston, was fur years promi¬ 
nent in Portage Lake mining matters. Nearly all of his fortune was 
swept away in 1865 by the failure of the Huron mine, of which he had 
charge; but in the following year he became interested in the Calumet 
& Hecla, which has since not only fully recouped his previous losses, 
but has made him a multi-millionaire. 

Captain Daniel Dunn, prominent forty years ago in Portage Lake 
mining matters, left Houghton in the winter of 1873 because his house 
was burned and there was not a dwelling for rent in the town. He 
drifted eastward and is now a resident of Boston, where judicious 
mining investments have rendered him independent. 

Among the veterans of early days who are still in harness are 
Captain Samuel B. Harris of the Quincy and Captain W. E. Parnall of 
the Tamarack, Osceola and Isle Poyale mines. Both are self-made 
men, starting life with little more than strong arms, willing hearts 
and right purposes. Both have risen by dint of energy, incessant 
labor and equally incessant study of mines, minerals and methods. 
They have not arrived at their present positions by any accident, as 
is best proven by the constantly decreasing cost of production, with¬ 
out decrease in wages, which is shown at their mines. 

Among the pioneers who have prospered is Graham Pope, of 
Houghton, proprietor of a large general merchandise business and 
until lately agent of the Franklin mine, which he took charge of a few 
years ago as an exhausted property, and retired from on April 1 , 1899, 
with the old mine more promising than when he took it, and a new mine,* 
the Franklin, Jr., developed to the point of large and profitable pro¬ 
duction. Mr. Pope resigned in order to take a rest, but owners of 
other mines are bothering him so with petitions to take charge of their 
properties that it would be an even wager that he succumbs to their 
blandishments, and takes up some new mine or some decrepit property 
and puts it on its feet. 

Captain Johnson Yivian, of Houghton, is a fine type of the Corn¬ 
ish miner of the pioneer days. His connection with the Lake copper 
mines dates nearly fifty years back, and he has been in charge of 
some of the largest properties of Houghton and Keweenaw counties. 
Some years ago he was forced to retire from mining, because his various 
real estate, merchandise, mining and banking investments required 
his entire attention. 

Although not a mining man in the usual sense of the term, Judge 
Jay A. Hubbell has been so prominently connected with the mines of 
the district that his name naturally comes forward in considering its 
notable pioneers. Honored by his fellow citizens with every office, 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


35 


from supervisor to five successive terms in congress, where he 
became one of the Republican leaders in the lower house, Judge 
Hubbell has been one of the strong men of the district and a leader 
among men for four decades. The achievement which will be longest 
remembered, and of which he perhaps is proudest, is the founding of 
the Michigan College of Mines, at Houghton. It is for good reason 
that Judge Hubbell is called the “Father of the College of Mines”. 
It was his idea; it was on the site donated by him that the college 
buildings were erected; and it was by his efforts in the state senate 
fifteen years ago that a grudging legislature was alternately coaxed, 
cajoled and bullied into appropriating money for an object to which 
the majority were frankly opposed. Whether the appropriation for 
the school could have been secured by any other man is doubtful. The 
wisdom of the school’s establishment is apparent now, even to those 
who opposed the project at its inception, for the Michigan College of 
Mines, despite its youth, already ranks, not merely well at the top, but 
actually at the head, of all the mining schools of the world, and its 
graduates are filling the most responsible positions in the great mines 
of almost every mining camp of the world. Such a monument as this 
great school is better than one of marble or of bronze, for it lives for¬ 
ever and its good works are felt in all succeeding generations. 

Easily one of the greatest mining men of the early days, or of any 
day, for that matter, was E. J. Hulbert, now living in Rome. Even 
his bitterest opponents—and he had many, for he was and still re¬ 
mains a man of marked individuality and strong likes and dislikes— 
must now admit that in scope and foresight he was a wonderful man. 
His predictions have nearly all been verified, even those which seemed 
the wildest three decades ago. His examination of the copper dis¬ 
trict was of the most minute and yet of the most comprehensive 
character. Even had he performed no other work—which is not the 
ease—-his development of the Calumet & Hecla would have stamped 
him as a genius. This mine, easily the greatest in the world in every 
essential, was opened in 1866. There are many conflicting stories 
afloat regarding its discovery but the one which is best authenticated 
divides the credit for finding it between Billy Royal’s hogs and Billy 
Royal himself. William Royal was one of that band of eccentric 
characters so frequently developed in pioneer life. He was a bit of 
everything, could turn his hand to any sort of labor, and loved best to 
labor not at all. In 1865 he was keeping a road house midway between 
Houghton and Eagle River, his log shanty standing not far from 
where the Calumet hotel is now located. Royal’s establishment 
furnished “fodder” for man and beast, and stronger refreshments for 
man. The beast knew better than to drink the rot-gut dealt out over 
Royal’s little bar. Among his other possessions was a small drove of 


36 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


pigs. Being of an improvident nature, Royal allowed his pigs to 
forage for themselves during the winter, and digging a living from 
under the snow in the Lake Superior country is no slight task for even 
so acute a forager as a pig. Not having seen his pigs for several weeks 
Royal started out to locate them one day in early spring, and found 
them burrowed in a quantity of fallen leaves under the shelter of a 
peculiar mass of reddish rock, mottled with green and shot with red. 
The rock was of nearly the size of a log cabin, and its peculiar appear¬ 
ance attracted Royal’s attention, after he had satisfied himself that 
the hogs were safe. Closer examination showed that the red rock was 
a conglomerate, considered worthless before that time. The green 
blotches were copper carbonate, formed by the action of air and water 
upon the native copper, and the dull red spots were bits of the virgin 
metal. 

Upon making this great discovery Royal proceeded forthwith to 
celebrate the joyous occasion by filing up on his own whisky. The 
find was shown to at least one man, still living, before Hulbert appear¬ 
ed on the ground and secured possession of the land on which the out¬ 
crop was located. It is but just to Mr. Hulbert to state that he de¬ 
nies the Royal story with some heat, but it is supported by such ex¬ 
cellent evidence that the tale must be accepted as true. It is not at 
all improbable that the conglomerate outcrop was discovered by 
Hulbert previous to the nesting of Royal’s hogs under its protecting 
shelter, and that the find was kept quiet by him, but it is certain that 
information regarding the existence of the rock was given by Royal, 
immediately after his discovery and before Hulbert had confided the 
news to any of his associates or friends. The discovery of the con¬ 
glomerate outcrop was speedily followed by the organization of three 
mining companies to work the lode, these being the Calumet, Hecla 
and Red Jacket. The two first-named companies controlled the out¬ 
crop for more than two miles’ distance, while the Red Jacket was locat¬ 
ed some distance to the westward. The owners of the Calumet and 
Hecla properties felt satisfied that the Red Jacket must eventually 
come to them on their own terms, but Hulbert decided to open a mine 
there in his own way. His proposal to sink a vertical shaft to the 
conglomerate and then deflect the shaft to the angle of the lode was 
laughed at as ridiculous, but after the shaft was fairly started the 
feasibility of the plan began worrying the owners of the outcrop, who 
hastily bought the Red Jacket mineral rights. The original Red 
Jacket vertical shaft, long since filled in, was located not far from 
the present armory of the Calumet Light Guard. To Hulbert also 
belongs the credit of sinking the first successful vertical shaft in the 
Lake copper district, at the Cliff mine. The project was begun in 


. HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


37 


fear and trembling by the owners of the mine but proved a success 
in every particular. 

In the untimely death of Capt. John Daniell, who departed this 
life two years ago as the result of an affection of the brain brought 
about by overwork and incessant study, the copper district was de¬ 
prived of one of the greatest mining geniuses ever given the world. 
Like so many other successful mining men of the district, Capt. Dan¬ 
iell was a self-made man. Born in Cornwall and early put in the 
mines to earn a trifle toward the support of his family, Capt. Daniell 
bent all his energies toward mastering every detail of mining work. 
He came to the Lake district a young man and steadily rose in po¬ 
sition, until at a comparatively youthful age he was at the top—agent 
of the Osceola mine. Not content with resting upon his laurels and 
enjoying life, as too many young men would have been, he redoubled 
his labors and his studies. Denied all but the most meagre scholastic 
training in his early days, Capt. Daniell by reading, observation, 
thought and contact with men of affairs, became a highly educated 
man; and, furthermore, what not all self-made men are, a credit to his 
maker. His greatest achievement was in the development of the 
Tamarack mine, a property now valued at more than twelve millions 
of dollars. The lands on which this mine was opened were well to the 
westward of the Calumet & Hecla; and while it was generally be¬ 
lieved that the Calumet conglomerate lode underlay the entire tract, 
the depth of overburden was so great that the men of means to whom 
the project was broached laughed at the idea as visionary. Nothing 
daunted, Capt. Daniell continued to figure on the scheme and kept 
bombarding the officials of the Osceola company, by whom he was em¬ 
ployed as agent, with plans and information regarding the great mine 
which he could open on the coveted Calumet conglomerate lode. 
Eventually he succeeded in interesting Mr. A. S. Bigelow, of Boston, 
and the quarter of a million dollars needed for the work was raised. 
There were times when Mr. Bigelow and his associates most heartily 
wished the plan had never been unfolded to them, but Capt. Daniell 
never wavered. He assured the men who furnished the money—and 
his own small savings were also invested in the enterprise—that the 
conglomerate lode would be found at a depth not exceeding 2,250 feet. 
For nearly four years this work was prosecuted, and in 1885 the long- 
looked-for lode was tapped, at a depth of 2,240 feet— within ten feet 
of where the projector had promised it would be found! The Tama¬ 
rack made many millionaires and it rendered Capt. Daniell a wealthy 
man, but the strain of his labors and studies was too great, and his fac¬ 
ulties began failing in 1893, followed by his death four years later. 
He was a victim to his sense of duty and his desire to master all 
knowledge pertaining to the chosen calling of his life. 


38 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


Fluctuations in the Price of Copper* 

Like all other industries, especially those of a mining sort, the 
Lake copper trade has been subjected to many vicissitudes during the 
more than fifty years of its existence. The price of the product has 
fluctuated greatly from time to time, and there have been periods 
when the future of the industry looked black indeed. In 1860 the 
production of Lake Superior ingot copper reached the unprecedented 
amount of 6,084 tons, and at that time the pessimists raised the cry, so 
often heard in succeeding years, that the production was too great and 
that the market would be flooded. The average price of copper that 
year was about 22 cents per pound. With the opening of the civil war 
in the spring of 1861 there came a period of depression, which, though 
short-lived, was profound. The copper country furnished more than 
its full quota of troops for the repression of the rebellion, just as it 
furnished quadruple its quota of troops for the late Spanish war. The 
future of the copper industry looked as dark as it well could and 
several of the mines suspended operations entirely, their managers 
and owners believing that the industry was completely ruined. The 
price of copper fell to 17£ cents per pound in July, 1861, a low-price 
record which was not duplicated until December, 1877, in the period 
of greatest depression following the panic of 1873. At 17-& cents per 
pound there was scarcely a mine in the district which could pay the 
expenses of operation. Fortunately there came a speedy turn for 
the better. The government needed copper for cartridges and 
for munitions of war. The metal began rising in price and in De¬ 
cember, 1861, sold at 27 cents. From that time forward until very 
nearly the close of the war the price advanced steadily, until in 
July, 1864, Lake copper sold at 55 cents per pound, the highest 
price ever obtained. With the closing of the war there came a 
gradual sagging in values until 1870. This five-year term was the 
crucial period in the development of the Lake copper district. The 
smaller and weaker mines were forced to the wall, one after the other. 
It was not necessarily the mines least rich in copper w r hich succumbed, 
but those which by reason of lack of capital, courage or skill in man¬ 
agement were unable to withstand the constantly increasing pressure 
of falling prices. It was during this five-year period that the Calumet 
& Hecla was opened, and the wonderful richness and marvelous 
production of this great mine were no small factors in reducing the 
price of the metal. In 1865 the production of Lake copper was 7,179 
net tons; while in 1870 it had risen to 12,311 tons. Despite the 
decreased number of producing mines, the production grew nearly 75 
per cent in the face of falling prices for copper. It was during this 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


39 


period that the foundations of modern mining and milling methods 
were laid. The necessity for the utmost economy led to the introduc¬ 
tion of heavier machinery and labor-saving methods. Thus it 
happened that in the time of greatest adversity the way was paved 
for a period of far greater prosperity than was ever dreamed of by the 
pioneer mining men of the district. 

It was during the dark days following the war that Judge Jay A. 
Hubbell was sent to Washington as a representative of the Lake 
copper producers to pray for a protective tariff that would save the 
industry from utter extinction. The tariff was secured and was of 
much benefit to the mines for some years; but for the past decade or 
more the Lake mines have set the price of metal the world over, and 
at present 60 per cent of the American production is sold abroad. 

From 1870 until the panic of 1873 prostrated values the copper 
district flourished amazingly. New mines were developed and aban¬ 
doned properties reopened. In the last-named year copper sold at 35 
cents per pound in January, and dropped to 20 cents per pound in 
November. From 1874 until 1878, inclusive, the average annual price 
of copper showed a steady shrinkage, declining from 231 cents per 
pound in 1874 to less than 164 cents in 1878. With the general business 
revival coming in the following year, copper again advanced, going 
from 15f cents in January, the record low price, to 21f cents in 
November. Meanwhile the production had materially increased, ad¬ 
vancing from 17,167 tons in 1874 to 21,426 tons in 1879. From 1880 to 
1886, a seven-year period, there was a steady decrease in price, ac¬ 
companied by a large increase in production, the average annual price 
of Lake ingot dropping from 20 1-5 cents in 1880 to a fraction under 11 
cents in 1886, while production increased from 21,869 tons in 1880 to 
40,130 tons in 1886. This period was not, strictly speaking, one of 
adversity. It was rather one of enforced economy, wherein increased 
production and improvement in processes enabled the mines to 
realize larger net profits than ever before. There was nothing ap¬ 
proaching a boom, but the district increased steadily in population, 
wealth and culture. The earlier months of 1887 were a continuation 
of this preceding seven-year period, and in May, 1887, Lake copper 
touched the lowest price on record until the panic of 1893, selling at 
9£ cents. 

In December, 1887, the Societe des Metaux, of France, better 
known as the French copper syndicate, showed its hand. This 
gigantic pool, or trust as it would now be termed, was planned and 
organized by one M. Secretan, who for eighteen months was the copper 
king, and who then dropped into utter obscurity, from which he was 
recently raised for a day, by his death during the month of March, 
1899. The plan of M. Secretan was delightfully simple. Backed by a 


40 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


syndicate having a nominal cash capital of nearly one hundred million 
francs, he contracted with all the leading copper mines of the world to 
take their product at a considerable advance over the market prices 
which had ruled for several years previously Having thus secured con¬ 
trol of practically the entire world’s product of copper, M. Secretan 
and his associates calmly marked up the price of the metal 50 per cent, 
and proceeded to rake in the large profits thus assured. Under the 
stimulus afforded by the copper corner the metal advanced from 
11 4-10 cents per pound in November, to 17 9-10 cents in December, 
1887. During the following years copper fluctuated in but narrow 
limits, with an average annual price a trifle better than 161 cents. In 
April, 1889, the crash came, and copper dropped in the twinkling of an 
eye three cents per pound. The copper syndicate had overestimated 
its own strength, and had contravened the laws of commerce, which 
are as immutable as the laws of the Medes and Persians, or as those 
of nature itself. M. Secretan and his associates had forgotten to take 
into calculation the stimulus to production brought about by higher 
prices, and had also omitted to consider the decrease in consumption 
certain to follow an arbitrary advance of fifty per cent in the cost of the 
metal. During the eighteen months that the French pool controlled 
the price of copper every established mine increased its production 
greatly, old mines were reopened, new mines developed, and old stores 
of copper brought forth from every corner of the world. Every con¬ 
sumer knew that the advance in price was brought about by a com¬ 
bination and not by natural laws, and in consequence used the 
minimum amount of the metal in his business. Electrical construc¬ 
tion, then in its infancy, received a check which almost brought new 
work in that line to a standstill. At that time electric lighting and 
the trolley car were luxuries, not necessaries as now, and they could be 
foregone for a year or two, until copper became cheaper. The syn¬ 
dicate made enormous profits, on paper; but these profits from almost 
the first month went into raw copper, which the mines kept shipping 
much more rapidly than the consumers would buy. In a few months 
the syndicate was pressed for cash. Would the banks lend a little 
money, say ten cents per pound, on a few thousand tuns of copper, 
worth say sixteen cents per pound? Certainly, the banks had idle 
millions and would be pleased to loan on such excellent collateral. A 
month later, would the banks again negotiate a small loan on copper, 
on the same terms as before? Certainly. Once again, and twice, and 
three and four and five times, would the banks lend? At first gladly, 
then gingerly, then in consternation, because they must lend or see 
their borrower go the wall, the banks loaned millions on copper. The 
leading bankers of Paris, London and Berlin loaned to the Soci^te des 
Metaux until they had advanced some $35,000,000 on copper worth at 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


41 


the market rates fully $50,000,000. Too late the bankers awoke to the 
gravity of the situation. Copper was piling up twice as fast as it was 
being consumed, and while the market price was upheld it was kept up 
solely by the money of the banks—the funds of the syndicate had long 
since gone into the same vortex. As well try to fill a sieve with water. 

After hurried cablegrams the representatives of the great money 
powers of Europe conferred at Paris. The Rothschilds, the Bleich- 
roeders of Berlin, the Credit Lyonnais, and others who are a power in 
the world of finance, canvassed the situation in all its bearings, found 
it hopeless, and so informed M. Secretan. The following day saw the 
collapse of the Soci^te des Metaux. It was as complete as that of a 
soap bubble, which one moment is large and shining in all the colors 
of the rainbow—the next is so completely gone that not the slightest 
trace can ever again be found. Foreseeing the crash, M. Secretan and 
a few of his associates hurriedly secured sufficient funds to enable them 
to live in comfort for the balance of their days. All that remained in 
the way of assets was 170,000 tons of copper, pledged to the banks—and 
the creditors promptly took their security. Their first movement, a 
perfectly natural one under the circumstances, was to realize on their 
collateral as rapidly as possible. It was at this juncture that a new 
factor appeared in the copper world. The sale of the enormous 
reserve of copper, nearly equivalent to the world’s demands for an en¬ 
tire year, would perhaps enable the bankers to get back nearly all they 
had loaned on it, but such action would mean ruin to all but the 
strongest mines, and would cause suffering and beggary to thousands 
of families in all the leading copper producing districts of the world, 
through loss of employment for an indefinite time. The bankers 
merely wished to get back the cash they had lent, or as great a propor¬ 
tion of their loans as possible. They had had enough of copper and 
were anxious to get out of it on the best terms possible. This they 
had begun doing, and the copper market broke severely and repeatedly, 
when the combined action of the Calumet & Hecla and Anaconda 
mining companies forced the bankers to desist. The corporations 
named owned and operated the two largest copper mines in the world, 
one in Michigan, the other in Montana. Their representatives waited 
upon the bankers, under cable orders from their principals, and coolly 
informed the princes of finance that the selling of copper must cease 
instantly. The bankers laughed this order to scorn and asked what 
their callers proposed to do about it. The answer was ready and was 
to the effect that the Calumet & Hecla and Anaconda also had copper 
to sell and that the price would be five cents per pound on the follow¬ 
ing morning. A thunderbolt’from Jove in a Grecian temple filled 
with devotees could scarcely have excited more consternation than 
this cool announcement, for the bankers knew it was made in earnest. 


42 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


The value of their collateral, already less than the amounts loaned, 
would be cut in half again within a few hours, and instead of losing a 
few millions they would lose a score. There was but one thing to do 
and that was to capitulate, as gracefully as possible but instantly, and 
the bankers with unnumbered millions surrendered as meekly as 
lambs led to the slaughter. For almost the first time in their lives 
they had reached a position where their millions were naught before 
£he superior power that dictated terms to them. 

The Yankee miners were not unreasonable, and even the bankers 
who were forced to yield to them soon came to see that the step was for 
the best interests of all concerned. The bankers promised to hold the 
copper and to dole it out from time to time as the market warranted. 
On their part, the American mining companies pledged themselves to 
not materially increase their production until the larger part of the 
surplus metal had been absorbed. The pact thus made under duress 
was scrupulously observed by both parties, and by their courageous action 
in defying the allied monied power of Europe the two American min¬ 
ing companies not only saved themselves great loss, but averted untold 
disaster from the smaller mines and the tens of thousands of industri¬ 
ous workmen and their families who were dependent upon the Mich¬ 
igan and Montana copper mines for their daily bread. 

Following the collapse of the Societe des Metaux in the spring of 
1889, there followed a nine-year period of low prices, with the excep¬ 
tion of 1890, and a few months in 1891. The bankers unloaded a* por¬ 
tion of their stock copper at prices nearly as high as ruled under the 
regime of Secretan, but the Baring faitereof October, 1890, shook the 
foundations of credit the world over, and the wisdom of allowing cop¬ 
per to find its natural level was so apparent that after June, 1891, Lake 
ingot did not again sell as high as 13 cents per pound until brought to 
that, and even higher, figures by purely natural causes, within the past 
few months. The average selling price of Lake copper has been as fol¬ 
lows since 1891: in 1892, lli; 1893, 101; 1894, 94; 1895, 101; 1896, 11; 1897, 
114; 1898, 12 cents. During the period from 1890, to 1894, inclusive, 
the Lake Superior copper production increased but 15 per cent, but 
beginning with 1895 the production has grown greatly, the 1898 output 
being very nearly 50 percent larger than that of 1890. Much of this 
recent increase is due to the Calumet & Hecla, which, in keeping faith 
with the European banking syndicate, maintained its production at 
25,000 to 30,000 tons per annum from 1890 until the close of 1895. The 
surplus copper then having been reduced to a point where it was no 
longer burdensome to the owners, who had gradually become accus¬ 
tomed to carrying it, and found their apparently bad bargain a profit¬ 
able one, the Calumet & Hecla and Anaconda were released from their 
moral obligation,*and both began increasing production very material- 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


48 


ly. In 1896 the Calumet & Heel a increased its output more than one- 
third over the production of the previous year: and in 1897 made and 
marketed over 46,000 tons of copper, or over 50 per cent more than 
its average annual output during the years from 1889 to 1895. 

Improvement in mining methods. 

Any historical sketch treating of the Lake Superior copper district 
would be incomplete if without reference to the wonderful progress 
made in mining, stamping and smelting. In other chapters of this 
work will be found descriptions of the titanic mechanical plants at 
the Houghton county mines and mills, undisputably the largest, 
costliest and most efficient machinery now in use on the globe. The 
contrast between the mechanical equipments, mining methods and 
reduction plants of today, and the primitive operations of fifty years 
ago, is almost as great as that between daylight at noon and the dark¬ 
ness of midnight. The pioneers depended on their own muscle for 
results. Much of the copper secured during the forties was taken 
from the rock with drills and gads. Black powder came into general 
use a little later, and by its aid it was possible, in the middle sixties, 
to drift from twelve to eighteen feet per month. Within the past 
two years a drift has been driven 106 feet in a month of twenty-six 
working days of two ten-hour shifts each, in the Osceola mine—a 
total working time of 496 hours, deducting six hours for each of the 
four short Saturday night shifts, when the miners work but four hours, 
instead of ten. High explosives came into gingerly use about 1874, 
nitro-glycerine being introduced to the copper district by Captain W. 
A. Dunn in that year. This explosive did great execution, but it was 
highly dangerous. It lias since been succeeded by dynamite, in which 
form the nitro-glycerine is taken up by kieselguhr, wood-pulp, diatom 
earth, or some similar material of high absorbent power, and rendered 
so safe for use that accidents rarely occur except through gross careless¬ 
ness on the part of those handling it. The rending power of ordinary 
black powder and of dynamite are as far apart as the propulsive power 
of the pleasure launch and the ocean-going passenger steamer. The 
power-drill came into general use only twenty years ago, and was 
bitterly opposed by the miners, who thought they saw an enemy in 
the machine, but later found it their best friend. ISTo attempt is now 
made to mine on any extensive scale without power rock drills. The 
diamond drill for exploratory purposes has also come into use within 
the past two decades. This marvelous little machine does its work 
with a hollow tube of soft steel, into the outer and inner edges of 
which black diamonds from Brazil are carefully set by experienced 
diamond-setters. Rotated by pipes from the drilling machine, this 


44 COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 

diamond-studded bit bores its way through the hardest granite at 
remarkable speed. The three great advantages possessed by the 
diamond drill are its reach, for it will bore a hole a mile in depth; 
the ability of the operator to bore a hole vertically, horizontally or at 
any angle desired; and the core obtained from its use, for the bit being 
hollow, it is possible to obtain cylindrical sections from the hole for its 
entire depth, and a thorough record of every inch of the strata is thus 
obtained. More than any other factor, the diamond drill has helped to 
change mining, in every part of the world, from a game of hazard more 
or less skillfully played to a legitimate industry in which there is 
scarcely a greater element of chance than in a well conducted manu¬ 
facturing or commercial establishment. 

The first miners used hand power whims for hoisting rock from 
their diminutive shafts. Naturally the early miners preferred adits to 
shafts, for it is easier to push a tram car through a tunnel than to 
hoist a bucket of rock with a windlass from a deep hole. Oxen were 
also drafted into service a little later and a few horses were used for 
motive power. The first steam engines were mere toys of a few horse 
power each, so puny that the one-ton skips and buckets were 
frequently stalled in the shafts until more steam could be gotten up 
in the boilers. At the present day the Calumet & Hecla has an eight- 
thousand horse-power hoisting engine at the Red Jacket shaft, fed 
with steam from ten boilers of one thousand horse-power each, while 
half a mile to the northward the Tamarack has a hoist at No. 3 shaft 
which has raised a ten-ton car of rock, from a depth of 4,450 feet, at 
the rate of fifty-five miles an hour—a vertical speed far greater than 
is attained by the average express train running on a horizontal plane. 

The early stamp mills were as rude as the mining appliances. 
Chilean arastras, identical with those used for centuries in the silver 
mines of Potosi, were tried, but found too cumbersome and inefficient. 
Gravity stamps were next used, similar to those still employed in gold 
fields the world over. A gravity stamp which crushes one and one-half 
tons of rock working twenty-four hours daily is doing fair service. To 
crush the conglomerate rock now treated by the Calumet & Hecla 
would require a row of gravity stamps one mile in length, pounding 
without cessation for twenty-four hours daily every working day in 
the year. The old style stamp being so manifestly inefficient, a steam 
stamp was devised and is now in universal use in the district. The 
Calumet & Hecla uses twenty-two of these titans, each striking blows 
of thousands of foot-tons and grinding the refractory conglomerate, as 
hard as granite, into sand which is soluble in water, at the rate of 300 
tons daily. The inventive genius of the district proved adequate to 
every demand made upon it, and the Ball steam stamp, the Evans 
slime table, theFrue vanner, and the Hodge jig, each bearing the name 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


45 


of its inventor, are in use around the globe. Lake Superior mechanics 
and engineers are in positions of the highest responsibility the world 
over, and the mere fact that a miner or mechanic has served with the 
Calumet & Hecla, the Tamarack, the Quincy, or one of the other great 
copper mines of the Lake district, is more potent with mine managers 
from Mexico to South Africa than the handsomest diplomas or the 
most fulsome letters of recommendation. For two thousand years 
Cornwall was the nursery and training school of the world’s best 
miners and engineers; but that proud distinction is now enjoyed by 
Houghton county, though Cornish-born miners and mechanics have 
helped to bring the proud distinction to this side of the Atlantic. 

Silver Caken From Copper mines. 

Copper is but one of the mineral products of the southern shore 
of Lake Superior. The five ranges of the Lake Superior iron district 
lying to the east, the south and the west of copperdom are the sources 
of the largest and purest supply of iron ore in the world. The 
precious metals are found in considerable quantities, and there is one 
gold mine near Islipeming, eighty miles east of Houghton, which has 
produced more than three-quarters of a million dollars’ worth of gold. 
Placer gold is found in small quantities in a number of streams in the 
copper district. Silver is found in every copper mine of the district 
in greater or less quantities, always native, as is the copper itself. 
Few of the Houghton county mines have been notably rich in silver, 
but at all of them more or less is secured. At the old Franklin stamp 
mill silver was picked from the copper for forty years. The Osceola 
produces a considerable amount of silver in small grains, and the 
Quincy reduces its No. 3 and No. 4 grades of mineral by electrolysis in 
order to save the silver, which averages twenty-eight ounces to the 
ton of copper. The Isle Royale, Huron, Portage and Shelden & 
Columbian mines, on the Houghton side of Portage lake, were richer 
in silver than any other Houghton county mines, the two latter carry¬ 
ing especially large quantities, and the No. 1 shaft of the Shelden & 
Columbian was known as the Silver shaft; while a washboss of the 
old Portage mill put himself on record one day in the seventies by 
saying that while the company paid him only $60 per month he would 
cheerfully pay the company that amount rather than lose his job and 
the rich pickings in silver. None of these mines, however, could 
compare with the Cliff mine in Keweenaw county, opened on a fissure 
vein, or the Minnesota mine of Ontonagon county, opened on a con¬ 
tact vein, for richness in silver. It is a matter of record that the 
Minnesota company once mislaid a barrel of silver, weighing nearly a 
ton, and did not find it until several months later. A nugget of solid 


46 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OE LAKE SUPERIOR. 


silver weighing over eighty pounds avoirdupois was taken from the 
Cliff, being the largest found in this district, if not in the world. 

Michigan stands credited on the books of the director of the mint 
with a silver production of upwards of 154,000,000; and there is no ques¬ 
tion that this amount is much too small. The larger part of the sil¬ 
ver never reached the coffers of the companies owning the mines. 
The miners, no matter how honest in every other respect, were a 
unit in the theory and practice that while the copper belonged to the 
company the silver went to the man who found it. Some thirty years 
ago a party of miners in one of the lower levels of the Cliff mine broke 
into a “vug”, or cave, of the size of a small room, and literally studded 
from floor to roof with nuggets of pure silver. The masses of white 
metal were quickly pried from the walls and nearly a dozen empty 
powder kegs were filled with the nuggets and secreted under stulls, 
over lagging and in abandoned drifts, awaiting reflioval from the 
mine, a few pounds at a time. Unfortunately for the discoverers, 
the mining captain saw the vug on the following day, noted little 
masses of silver overlooked by the despoilers, and, making a system¬ 
atic search of the mine, captured all the treasure kegs but one, leaving 
the crestfallen miners but a scant two hundred-weight of silver, ihen 
worth $1.30 per troy ounce, for their share of the spoil. All estimates 
of the amount of silver secured by miners must necessarily be mere 
guess-work, but it is certain that millions were taken which never 
paid toll to the owners of the mines. An outlying spur of the Kewee- 
nawan formation, known as Silver Mountain, lies in the valley of the 
Sturgeon river, and weird tales are told of the rich silver mine repeat¬ 
edly found and lost there by successive explorers. The mountain is 
still believed by the Chippewas to be haunted, and it is certain that 
the explorers who have ventured there have uniformly met with dis¬ 
aster and even death. Promising finds of silver have also been made 
from time to time in the Iron River district, west of Ontonagon but 
within the limits of the trap formation of the Keweenaw peninsula. 

Characteristics of the Copper Codes. 

The early miners searched for fissure veins and had but hazy ideas 
regarding the conglomerate and amygdaloid lodes, which they called 
floors. Various attempts to develop mines on conglomerate reefs 
came to grief and it was for this reason that the possibility of open¬ 
ing a paying mine on the Calumet conglomerate was generally scouted 
by experienced mining men during the early days of the Calumet & 
Ilecla. After that property had demonstrated its wonderful value, 
and thus effectually upset all previous theories regarding the conglom- 
rates, public opinion veered to an exactly opposite quarter and many 


HISTORICAL REVIEW. 


4 7 


prospective bonanzas were opened on the conglomerates. None of 
them have ever paid, and at present a conglomerate proposition would 
receive but scant attention from any experienced mining man, unless 
the showing were of a truly phenomenal nature. With the single ex¬ 
ception of the Calumet & Hecla, all of the big and lasting mines have 
been opened on amygdaloid lodes, and it is on these that every one of 
the new mines of the district, from Keeweenaw Point to the Ontona¬ 
gon river, are now being exploited. That there are fissure veins 
which will yet prove as rich as the Cliff, and contact veins which may 
duplicate the record of the Minnesota, seems more than probable. It 
is even possible, though improbable, that conglomerates may yet be 
found which will give the world another Calumet & Hecla. 


The opening of the Portage Lake ship canal has proven a great 
benefit to the copper mines as well as to lake navigation. Originally 
constructed by the state, as was the Sault Ste. Marie canal, it also 
passed into the hands of the federal government. The canal is two 
miles in length, and connects the cul de sac of Portage Lake with 
Lake Superior. Millions have been expended on this work and in the 
task of straightening and deepening the Portage Entry channel. It 
is now possible for the very largest vessels plying the lakes to pass 
through Portage Lake from end to end, and the joint harbor of Hough¬ 
ton and Hancock is one of the busiest and most important on the 
chain of lakes. In 1875 the Calumet & Hecla completed a private 
canal connecting Portage lake with Torch lake, at a cost of $100,000. 
This canal is still a private enterprise, but will eventually pass under 
control of the federal government. Such a consummation is desirable, 
as all vessels landing freight at or taking cargoes from Lake Linden, 
South Lake Linden, Gregoryville, or the stamp mills of the Tamarack, 
Osceola or Quincy mines, must pay tolls of ten to fifty cents per ton. 

In the early days stamp mills were built on Portage lake by the 
Franklin, Pewabic, Quincy, Osceola, Atlantic, Isle Royale, Portage 
and Shelden & Columbian mines. The three mills last named were 
dismantled during the eighties and their sites - sold for business pur¬ 
poses. The Pewabic mill was razed when the Quincy secured pos¬ 
session of that mine, and the magnificent new smelters of the Quincy 
company occupy the former site of the Pewabic mill. The Quincy and 
Osceola mills were torn down and new mills built on Torch lake some 
ten years ago. The Atlantic mill was abandoned two years ago, on the 



48 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


completion of the big new mill at the mouth of the Salmon Trout 
river, Lake Superior; and the Franklin mill was burned late last year; 
thus removing the last stamp mill from Portage lake. The mills so 
filled the channel, naturally about 1,000 feet in width, with their sands 
that the federal government compelled their removal, one after the 
other. The Franklin is building a new mill, as is also the Arcadian, 
on Grosse Pointe, Grand Portage; and the Isle Royale will build a mill 
at the junction of Portage and Grand Portage lakes, behind the 
natural barrier offered by Snowshoe island. 

Naturally much has been left unsaid in this brief and hastily 
written sketch of the history of the Lake Superior copper district. It 
is to be hoped that in the near future an association of the pioneers 
and of the studious minded later comers may be formed, by which 
valuable historical matter can be obtained and preserved, access to 
which will enable the historian of the future to present his labors to 
the public without the lively sense of his shortcomings which afflicts 
the present writer. 



PHOTOGRAPHED BY A. F. ISLER, CALUMET, MICHIGAN. 

LAKE LINDEN. 

























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. 


































t 







GEOLOGY OF THE MINERAL RANGE. 


49 


Geology of tbe mineral Range. 


By Professor H. e. Seaman. 

(OF THE MICHIGAN COLLECE OF MINES.) 


Since a review of the copper mining industry of the Lake Superior 
region would be incomplete without a description of the geological 
structure and of the character of the rocks with which the metal is 
associated, a brief generalized outline of the geology is here given: 

Distribution.— The so-called Mineral Range is a portion of a great 
series of rocks which border the south shore of Lake Superior, from 
Keweenaw point southwesterly through Michigan and Wisconsin into 
Minnesota. Their southern limit crosses the St. Croix river below 
the falls, where the formation bends sharply to the north, and north¬ 
east to Duluth. They also form the greater portion of the Minnesota 
coast line, and extend at least thirty miles into the interior. The beds 
reappear on Isle Royale, and also compose the numerous small islands 
off Black and Nipigon bays, and extend northward into the interior, 
covering quite extensive areas in the valleys of the Black, Sturgeon 
and Nipigon rivers. East of Nipigon Bay no rocks of this series are 
found on the north shore of Lake Superior. They reappear, however, 
on Michipicoten island and occur in several isolated patches along the 
eastern shore of the lake as far south as Gros Cap, a few miles north¬ 
west of Sault Ste. Marie. Off the extreme end of Keweenaw point 
they form Manitou island, and still farther southeast they form Stan- 
nard rock, beyond which point they are lost below the waters of 
the lake. 

The dip or inclination of these rocks is usually lakeward. Those 
on the north shore, as well as those on Michipicoten Island and Isle 
Royale, dip in a southerly direction; while those on the south shore dip 
toward the north and northwest. Thus a broad, synclinal rock basin 
is formed which underlies nearly all of the waters of Lake Superior. 
These rocks cover at least 40,000 square miles in area. 

Kinds of Rock.— This series is typically a sandstone formation, 
the materials of which were accumulated upon a subsiding sea 

bottom. Contemporaneous with the deposition of detrital material, 

4 




50 


COPPER MINING; INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


great floods of lava welled forth from fissures and flowed over the 
bottom of the sea. 

The lava was generally basic, like our modern basalts, but acid and 
intermediate types were present. Owing to slight differences in the 
original composition of the basic lavas and their rate and conditions 
of cooling, various rocks have resulted. Among the typical kinds 
may be mentioned gabbro , diabase and melaphyr , including the amygda¬ 
loidal types of the latter two. 

Typically, gabbro is a coarse-grained, thoroughly crystalline rock, 
containing plagioclase feldspar, the diallage variety of pyroxene, and 
iron oxide, usually magnetite. Often, however, the diallage may be 
replaced by some other variety of pyroxene, or even by hornblende, or 
the pyroxene may be absent—when different varietal names are given 
to the rock. 

Diabase is composed of plagioclase, angite, and iron oxide as the 
chief ingredients. A peculiar structure, due to the long, narrow, lath¬ 
shaped, divergent feldspars, holding the darker colored minerals in 
their interstices, is also characteristic. The rock is usually thoroughly 
crystalline, and may be either coarse or fine-grained. 

Melaphyr is a term somewhat loosely applied, but is generally used 
to designate altered rocks closely related to diabase in which some por¬ 
tion of the residual glass remained uncrystallized. All of these rocks 
may contain olivene and other minerals. 

Amygdaloid, from the Greek word for almond, is “technically” 
not a rock, but refers to a rock texture, and may be explained as 
follows:— 

When a lava is cooling, the escaping steam and gas, owing to their 
expansive force, have a tendency to form almond-shaped or elliptical 
cavities, or cells, in the upper portions of the flow. These cavities are 
often drawn out into elongated'and irregular shapes by the flowing 
motion of the lava. Not only this occurs, but the cellular, scoriaceous 
upper portion is often broken up into a mass of cinder-like fragments. 
The porous, open character of the rock renders it liable to alteration 
under the influence of infiltrating mineralized waters. 

In the course of time, the cavities are partially, or entirely, filled, 
forming the rock texture known as amygdaloidal. 

The rocks most likely to show the amygdaloidal character are the 
diabases and melaphyrs, to which reference will be made later. The 
basic crystalline rocks mentioned above are the dark-colored rocks of 
the series, and are locally called greenstones, traps and amygdaloids, 
by the Lake Superior miners. 

Other types of rock, quite distinct from the above, are the acid 
eruptives, including the felsites and quartz porphyries. These rocks 
are of interest because they have furnished the detritus for much of 


GEOLOGY jOF THE MINERAL RANGE. 51 

the sandstone, and the pebbles and boulders for many of the conglom¬ 
erates. 

The felsites are usually reddish to purplish brown in color, with a 
tine-grained or aphanitic ground-mass, with or without porphyritic 
crystals of feldspar. 

The quartz porphyry may be considered as essentially like the 
above, with the addition of porphyritic quartz. It is true, however, 
that all gradations exist between the more acid quartz porphyry con¬ 
taining nearly 80 per cent of silica, and the diabases, which typically 
should not exceed 55 per cent in silica. 

The acid lavas were more viscous than the basic kinds, and con¬ 
sequently did not flow as far and are thus confined to less longitudinal 
extent in the series. They were often intruded across the trend of 
the other rocks in the form of dikes and bosses. 

Owing to their pasty condition, they often formed dome shaped 
masses upon reaching the surface, and were thus more readily 
attacked by the waves, and redistributed in the form of sand and 
shingle, to form sandstone and conglomerate. 

The acid eruptives are well exposed along the north side of Bete 
Grise bay in the Bare hills, and at Mt. Houghton; they also occur 
near the base of the series east of Calumet, where they have a surface- 
width approximating a thousand feet. They are still more extensive 
in the Porcupine mountain region and beyond. 

While the , eruptive rocks are only incidents in the history of the 
series to which they belong, the great copper mines wrought within 
their limits make them pre-eminent from an economic standpoint. 

The eruptive rocks are confined to the lower part of the series, 
and have been the basis for making two. divisions; an upper and a 
lower one. 

The lower division covers the time from when the first sediments 
of the series were deposited to the time that the eruptive activity of 
the region ceased. 

The upper division marks the time of more quiet deposition, 
during which from twelve thousand to fifteen thousand feet of con¬ 
glomerate, sandstones and shales were formed. This upper detrital 
member of the series has produced but little copper, only one mine— 
the Nonesuch—having ever been opened within its limits. 

The sandstones of the upper division are often coarse-grained, 
passing into conglomerate or fine-grained, grading into shale. The 
detritus from which these rocks were formed was derived largely from 
the lower division of the series, especially from the eruptives. 

The shale belt and accompanying gray sandstone, which is well 
exposed in Swedetown Creek, west of Hancock, contains much 
melaphyr debris. 


52 COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 

It-is in a rather coarse-grained, gray sandstone, containing much 
basic material, that the copper at the old Nonesuch mine occurs. 

Some silver has been found in this gray sandstone in the Porcupine 
Mountain region, but not in sufficient quantity to be profitably 
mined. Very little exploratory work has ever been done in the upper 
division, and it is doubtful if copper exists there in paying quantities; 
although at the present price of copper there are probably some 
capitalists who would be willing to invest in much less promising 
properties than the Nonesuch. 

It was not the lack of copper, so much as the inability to save what 
there was, owing to its being so finely disseminated through the rock, 
that discouraged operations there. 


Cbe mineral Range. 

The copper bearing belt, or Mineral Range proper—so far as it has 
been exploited—is practically confined to the lower division of the 
series; and, so far as present mining is concerned, lies entirely within 
the limits of the state of Michigan. This belt of rocks covers a nar¬ 
row strip of country from the end of Keweenaw Point southwest to 
the Montreal River at the state boundary line, a distance of 150 miles. 

Future developments will probably disclose rich mines farther 
southwest along the continuation of the range into Wisconsin. 

The surface width of the belt in Michigan varies from four to 
eleven miles. The varying width is due largely to the dip of the 
rocks, the flat dipping beds covering a broader area than the steeply in¬ 
clined ones. 

Other causes which have affected the thickness are the thinning 
out or the thickening of the individual beds. 

The conglomerates thin out away from the chief source of supply 
of the pebbles and boulders of which they are largely composed. The 
eruptive crystallines also thin out, or end, at greater or less distances 
from their source. 

Basic lavas, being more easily fusible than the acid ones, were more 
liquid, and consequently flowed farther under the same conditions. 
Subordinate folding may also increase the width, as is the case in the 
Porcupine Mountains. Faulting may, and has, caused variations in 
the apparent thickness of the series. 

Topography.— The Mineral Range is a more or less distinctly 
defined ridge, or series of ridges, with a summit elevation of from 
five hundred to more than a thousand feet above the level of Lake 
Superior. 


GEOLOGY OF THE MINERAL RANGE. 


53 


The southern limit is, for the greater length of its course, formed 
by a fault-escarpment, from which the usually highly inclined beds 
face the low lying lands to the south. The north limit is the base of 
the sandstone which overlies the latest lava flow. 

Toward the eastern end of the range, where the dip is not steep, 
the harder, more crystalline, diabases stand out in bold relief above 
7 the more deeply eroded, softer rocks, and form steep, mural-like, south- 
facing cliffs, with more gently sloping surfaces to the north. The so- 
called “greenstone” ridge that overhangs the workings at the old Cliff, 
Phoenix and Central mines, is a good example. This structure is well 
developed in the Porcupine Mountains, especially at Carp Lake, where 
the rocks, sloping gradually up from Lake Superior, attain an elevation 
of 1,000 feet, and then drop off precipitously 300 or 400 feet into the 
valley of Carp Lake. 

When the dip is steeper, the harder rocks form ridges with more 
rounded contours. The intervening valleys, that have been formed by 
the deeper erosion of the less enduring rocks, are often covered with 
swamps and bogs. 

In other places along the range scarcely an outcrop will be en¬ 
countered for several miles, owing to the deep accumulation of glacial 
drift. 

In such places the hills are generally more irregular in outline, 
and the surface is often dotted with sink-holes and small ponds and 
lakes, or traversed by irregular swales and marshy areas; thus giving a 
highly diversified topography to the surface. 

Several large, superimposed streams have eroded transverse 
channels across the range, dividing it into numerous segments, and it 
has thus been aptly termed the backbone of Keweenaw point. 

There are other topographical features that deserve mention. 
These are the numerous shelving lake terraces, which flank the 
range and may also be seen in the transverse valleys. The higher of 
these terraces reach an elevation of between 500 and 600 feet. And 
in fact the whole range was at one time entirely base-leveled by an 
ancient sea. The various terraces mark, as it were, the chapters in the 
history of Lake Superior. The main streets of the villages of Hough¬ 
ton and Hancock are laid out along one of these lower terraces. 

It is only when looking at the varied sculpture of mountain and 
valley, crag and ravine from a geological standpoint that the great 
revolutions in the past geological history of the globe are revealed. 

From the character and position of the rocks, the geologist reads 
their past history, and is likewise enabled to foretell their inevitable 
future. 

In studying the rocks along the mineral range, the mind is carried 
back through the dim vistas of the past to Cambrian times, when a 


5 4 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


vast sea covered the greater portion of that part of the globe which 
now is the continent of North America. 

The angry waves, lashed to fury by the southern gales, beat against 
the embattled cliffs of its northern limits, and wrested from them, 
through right of conquest, much of the material that was to form the 
future continent. During this early struggle for supremacy between 
land and sea, Vulcan, aroused from his slumbers by the strife above, 
arose and in his anger poured out upon the fierce combatants the 
molten products from his furnaces below. The strife, however, con¬ 
tinued until the conquering land arose, regained its lost possessions, 
and forced the vanquished sea from the field of action. 

The rocks formed were folded and faulted, and thousands of feet 
of their upturned edges were worn away, before the sea receded from 
the region; and as we contemplate these changes there comes to our 
mind these words of Tennyson : 


There rolls the deep where grew the tree. 

O, earth, what changes thou hast seen! 

There where the long street roars, hath been 
The stillness of the central sea. 

The hills are shadows, and they flow 

From form to form, and nothing stands; 

They melt like mist, the solid lands, 

Like clouds they shape themselves and go. 


Cross-section. —Only a very generalized idea of the rocks, as ex¬ 
hibited in cross-section, will be attempted. 

Neither at Portage Lake, nor, in fact, at any place on Keweenaw 
Point, are the lowest beds of the series exposed, the lower portion 
having been cut off by the great Keweenaw fault. 

The first bed encountered, north and west of the fault line, may be 
a coarse-grained, dark, greenish colored diabase, showing a distinctly 
spotted or mottled surface, as at Lac La Belle; or, it may be a quartz 
porphyry, as occurs east of the Kearsarge mine. Then, again, it may 
be one of the amygdaloidal melaphyrs; as at the Douglass Houghton 
and Hungarian ravines. At other times, a conglomerate will be the 
lowest bed exposed. 

It will thus be seen that the fault plane cuts diagonally across the 
trend of the beds of the range, and is at one time in contact with a 
higher, and again with a lower, bed of the series. Eastward from the 
fault line, the further extension of the cupriferous beds is buried be¬ 
neath thick accumulations of sandstone, and only reappears along its 
southern limit, fifteen to twenty miles further south. 

This eastern sandstone is usually in a nearly horizontal position, 


GEOLOGY OF THE MINERAL RANGE. 


55 


away from the fault escarpment; but near the latter it is often in¬ 
clined even to a vertical position, and is sometimes overturned. 

Owing to the nature of the origin of the series, the cross-section 
will vary at different points along the range. 

Lava flows that measure a great thickness at one locality may 
thin out and disappear altogether at some other place in the series. 

The conglomerates will be built up to much greater thicknesses 
in the vicinity of the more yielding rocks that furnished the debris 
from which they were formed. 

The acid rocks, owing to their viscosity, will be confined to local 
areas. These latter rocks, where they flowed into the sea, had por¬ 
tions of their mass immediately broken up and distributed by the 
action of the waves. If an island was formed in the sea by one of 
these acid lavas, its wave-worn material would be deposited in all di¬ 
rections at sea. Where a cross-section through the island would show 
a felsite, one at either side would expose a bed of conglomerate at the 
same horizon. Minor mistakes may be made in the subordinate stratig¬ 
raphy, by mapping felsites where none occur. Further, while a con¬ 
glomerate was being laid down over the floor of the sea, a flow or series 
of flows, may have been poured over a portion of the sea bottom. Over 
and around these the conglomerates, without a break in the deposi¬ 
tion, would continue to be accumulated, until the lavas may have been 
entirely covered. Thus, a section in one locality would show a con¬ 
glomerate, followed by a lava flow, or series of flows, and then by con¬ 
glomerate again; while, perhaps at no great distance, but beyond the 
limit of the flows, the section would show only a thick bed of conglom¬ 
erate, for the same horizon. 

It is, therefore, possible for a conglomerate to split up into two or 
more parts and to unite again. It is also evident that the two por¬ 
tions of the conglomerate would not be parallel, but would at first di¬ 
verge from each other, and then converge to the point of junction. 

Phenomena like the above have led to confusion regarding the 
number of conglomerates in certain cross-sections. From the preced¬ 
ing remarks it will be understood why a detailed cross-section in one 
region will fail to denote the true succession in another region far re¬ 
mote from the first. To give a few examples, let us compare a cross- 
section, first, through the Porcupine Mountains, with one at Portage 
Lake. In the former place several thousand feet of felsites occur 
near the top of the section. None are found in the Portage Lake 
section. At the base of the Porcupine Mountain section occur several 
hundred feet of sandstone and many diabase flows that are not 
represented in the Portage Lake section. A section through Mount 
Houghton will show several hundred feet of felsite in the lower half, 
and exceedingly thick beds of lustre-mottled diabase in the upper half 


56 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


of the section. The felsites are missing, and the diabases, if they 
occur, have lost their prominence in the Portage Lake section. 
Another example may be taken from Mt. Bohemia, where more than 
1,000 feet of a coarse-grained gabbro-like rock occurs near the base of 
the series; this rock is a local intrusion, and has a vertical thickness 
about equal to its longitudinal extent, and would not show in another 
section even one-half mile away. Again, a section at the Allouez 
mine would show about 800 feet of quartz porphyry at the base of the 
series, while none occurs at Portage Lake. 

Notwithstanding the apparent discrepancies in the various cross- 
sections, there is after all considerable uniformity in the succession*. 
As a rule, the base of the series is made up of coarser-grained, thicker 
flows than occur at the top. The conglomerates are less numerous 
and thinner near the base than toward the top of the series. 

In the Portage Lake section, where the rocks attain a thickness 
of nearly three miles, at least twenty conglomerates may be recog¬ 
nized. These, following the general rule, are thicker as we go up in 
the series. Those near the base may vary from mere seams to thirty 
feet in thickness, rarely exceeding fifty feet. Toward the top of the 
series they may attain a thickness of one hundred, or several hundred, 
feet, the uppermost being more than 2,000 feet thick. The reverse of 
this is generally true regarding the basic eruptives; the lower part of 
the series being composed of thicker flows than the upper portion. 

There are, however, exceptions to both rules. While the basic 
rocks have several distinct types, the same type occurring at different 
horizons may lead to much confusion in the correlative stratigraphy. 
The same is true of the conglomerates, many of which received their 
materials from the same source, and are scarcely distinguishable. 

There are others, again, which from the character of their 
pebbles, or matrix, are usually easily recognized. 

Regarding the stratigraphical position of the Portage Lake group 
of mines: 

The Baltic is working near the base, being lower in the series than 
any other mine of the district. The Isle Royale Consolidated and Ar¬ 
cadian are about one-third of the way up, the Quincy and Franklin 
about two-thirds, and the Atlantic somewhat nearer the top. 

At the extreme top of this lower division the dip does not exceed 
40 degrees, but increases toward the bottom of the series, where it 
reaches at least 60 degrees. From Portage lake the dip decreases in 
going northeast and increases as we go southwest along the range. 

Copper Deposits. —These may, for all practical purposes, be 
divided into two classes, “bed deposits” and “fissure veins”. 

The bed deposits include the cupriferous conglomerates, like the 
one worked by the two chief producers, the Calumet & Hecla and 


GEOLOGY OF THE MINERAL RANGE. 


57 


Tamarack mines; and the cupriferous melaphyrs and diabases, “amyg- 
daloids”, that are wrought by all of the other producing mines of the 
region. 

The fissure veins, or transverse vein deposits, are not being worked 
at present; but examples may be cited in the old Cliff, Phoenix and 
Central mines, all of which were worked under the Greenstone Range 
previously referred to as marking one- of the chief topographical 
features of the eastern part of the Mineral Range. 

Alterations. —It is probably among the diabases and melaphyrs, 
referred to on a previous page, that the new mines of the range are to 
be sought. As stated, many of these rocks are porous, especially in their 
upper portions, and are thus subject to speedy alteration as they are 
penetrated by chemical waters. The pyroxene is changed to uralite, 
and chlorite, and the ferrous iron is changed to the ferric condition by 
taking up more oxygen; or it unites with other elements, to form new 
minerals. 

The magnetite undergoes oxydation to hematite; the olivene when 
present is changed to serpentine and hematite, or by hydration to 
limonite, giving the altered rocks a brownish or reddish appearance. 
The feldspars alter to quartz, and with the addition of calcium 
and iron, which may have been furnished by the pyroxene, form 
epidote. This requires a loss of alkalies. The alkalies, however, have 
united with other dissociated elements and formed such minerals as 
analcite, apophyllite, natrolite, etc., which are often abundant in the 
more altered portions of the flows. Other products of alteration are 
calcite, prehnite, laumontite and datolite, the orthosilicate of boron, 
and calcium. 

There are many others which we need not mention. The constant 
association of copper with one or more of these alteration products is 
very noticeable at any of the mines. This is particularly true with 
chlorite, epidote and prehnite. 

The pyroxene and olivene, when present, were the first to under¬ 
go alteration, and to the alteration of these is probably due the 
formation of the non-alkaline silicates, or a large portion of them. 
The feldspars next went, giving the materials for many of the 
alkaline silicates. These appear to be much more more plentiful in 
the upper levels of the mines, where the alteration has generally been 
carried to the extreme. 

From the above it will be seen that, besides the simple filling up of 
the pre-existing cavities, a large amount of replacement has occurred. 
This has affected not only the originally porous portions of the 
rock, but has in some cases extended throughout their mass, forming 
a pseudo-amygdaloidal texture. 

Where the alteration extends throughout the mass, the whole 


58 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR, 


flow may be impregnated with copper. Usually each flow will have a 
central portion that is more massive, with a more altered amyg- 
daloidal upper portion to which the copper is confined. 

The copper will be most abundant along the old channels formed 
by the underground waters, and will consequently be bunchy in 
distribution. 

The copper may occur in shot-like forms, forming the amygdules, 
or in sheet-like forms, lining the joint crevices; and also occurs in 
pronged or branching stringers and masses. 

As the copper is found in the altered portions of the flows, which 
are more easily eroded than the massive crystalline ones, it is obvious 
that it must be sought in the low, in preference to the high, lands. 
An exception to the above would be when the more crystalline rocks 
might protect the softer ones from erosion. 

Precipitation.— That the copper was carried in solution, and 
arrested in its present position by some precipitating agent, is gen¬ 
erally conceded; and that it is intimately associated with the 
melaphyrs that have had their ferrous iron changed to a ferric state 
has given rise to the widely accepted theory that in the peroxydation 
of the ferrous iron is to be found the agent of precipitation. 

The origin, or original source, of the copper is not so easily 
explained. Two views have been advanced. One view is that the 
copper was brought to the surface in the lavas themselves; the other 
that it was deposited in a sulphuretted form, along with the detrital 
rocks of the series. 

If this latter view were the correct one, we might expect to find 
copper ores in the detrital members of the upper division of the series; 
such, however, is not the case, the only place where copper has been 
found in that division being, as previously stated, at the Nonesuch mine. 
At that place the copper may as well have leached from the melaphyrs 
which, by faulting, are brought into a position above the Nonesuch 
beds. These latter beds are basic in character, and the fine copper is, 
in fact, precipitated around grains of magnetite, so that the theory for 
precipitation holds here, as well as in the lower division of the series. 

The view that the basic eruptives was the home of the copper is 
somewhat strengthened by the fact that in many of the coarse-grained, 
slightly altered diabases considerable chalcocite, chalcopyrite and 
bornite, sulphides of copper or of iron and copper, are found scattered 
through their mass. 

This is particularly noticeable on the South Trap Range. We may 
here state that the South Trap Range is a term applied to the broken 
ridge of hills that skirts the southern limit of the eastern sandstone 
area, of which mention was made on a previous page. 

The South Range branches off from the Mineral Range about ten 


GEOLOGY OF THE MINERAL RANGE. 


59 


miles west of Lake Gogebic. It forms a prominent ridge of hills near¬ 
ly to the south end of the lake, where the distance between the two 
ranges is about six miles. 

The base of the series is composed of a coarse sandstone, resting un- 
conformably upon the rocks of the iron-bearing series. Above the 
sandstone is a succession of melaphyr and diabase flows, often porphy- 
ritic, which make up the greater part of the range. The valley be¬ 
tween the two ranges has the Eastern sandstone for its surface rock. 
The dip of the rocks of the South Range is steep, west of the lake— 
being usually from 60 degrees to 80 degrees to the north. 

East of the lake, the trap hills are not so well defined, but occur 
in isolated low ridges, with a gently sloping surface to the north, and 
often with steep cliffs to the south. About six miles east of the lake 
quite a prominent ridge of the diabase and melaphyr, with the under¬ 
lying sandstone, is exposed. 

The sandstone can be seen in direct contact with the underlying 
green schists that form the surface rock to the south, and contains 
many fragments of them. This sandstone can be traced for about one 
mile east, to the west branch of the Ontonagon River, where it forms 
high cliffs along the north bank of the stream. 

The melaphyrs that form the top of the ridge west of the river 
rest upon the top of this sandstone and dip to the north at an angle 
that does not exceed 12 degrees. The melaphyr continues to be the 
surface rock for at least two miles to the north, before it disappears 
below the Eastern Sandstone. 

The rocks show at several points further east, near the old Military 
Road, and are well exposed on the south branch of the Ontonagon 
River, and beyond, where the average dip is about 15 degrees. They 
form quite a prominent ridge southeast of Trout Creek, near the 
Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railway. The steepest dip is nearly 
20 degrees. At this place, the two ranges are about twenty miles 
apart. 

The most northern outcrop of these rocks that is known at pres¬ 
ent is at Silver Mountain, about fifteen miles southwest of Baraga. 
The Silver Mountain rocks dip northwest at about 14 degrees, and 
form a bold, precipitous bluff to the southeast. Twelve to fifteen 
miles northeasterly from Silver Mountain are two quite high hills or 
ridges of Ordovician limestone, with abundant fossils. 

This limestone lies conformably above the eastern sandstone. 
These rocks at the most easterly exposure are seen to dip northwest 
at about 28 degrees as a maximum. This is the steepest northwest 
dip recorded for the Eastern Sandstone along its southern margin. 
The dip does not generally exceed five degrees, and is more commonly 
only two or three degrees, and often less. 


60 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


This would seem to indicate that the sandstone must be at least 
3,000 feet thick, which is probably a very conservative estimate. 

The eastern sandstone, like that on the west side of the Mineral 
Range, contains much material that was derived from the erosion of 
the eruptives of the range. Pebbles of felsiteare found, and the mela- 
phyr pebbles are extremely abundant. 

It is probable that at the time the folding began, and the great 
longitudinal fault was produced, much of the area to the south of 
the range was elevated with it; that it was for a long time exposed to 
subaerial denudation, during which the sandstone and shales were ac¬ 
cumulating along the western side of the range, to which the shore 
line had been transferred. 

During the time in which the Mineral Range was being worn 
away, there was a transgression of the sea which hastened the base 
leveling of the region. This was after the eruptive activity had ceased 
and the normal conditions of deposition had been restored. In the 
time of the transgression, the sea over-rode the Mineral Range, and 
the eastern sandstone was deposited in continuity with that on the 
west. The sea still deepened, and marine life became abundant in 
a region which for a long period had been the theatre of action for the 
lire gods. 

The sea finally withdrew from the land, and the rocks were fur¬ 
ther folded; and, yielding along the lines of least resistance, were fur¬ 
ther faulted, folding the overlying sandstone into the positions in 
which we now find it. 

Subsequent erosion has made great inroads, and carried away 
nearly all of the limestone which gave evidence of the former life 
of the sea. The sandstone has also suffered extensively from the con¬ 
tinual wear of the agents of denudation, and now occupies only the low 
lying land, and a few patches on the upturned edges of the rocks of 
the range. 

Such appears to be the past geological history of the Range, as we 
decipher it from the torn pages of the book of nature. 



STATISTICS OF COPPER PRODUCTION. 


61 


Statistics of Copper Production. 


Compiled by Horace 3. Stevens. 


Outputs of refined copper, in pounds, by operating Lake Superior 
copper mines, for four years: (Estimated products are marked by *.) 


Mine. 1895. 

Calumet & Recla... 79,137,399 

Tamarack. 14,900,286 

Quincy. 16,304,721 

Osceola. 10,755,029 

Atlantic. 4,832,497 

Franklin. 3,086,933 

Wolverine. 1,815,391 

Centennial.. 

Miscellaneous. 531,679 


1896. 

89,260,621 

16,044,860 

16,863,477 

9,526,415 

4,894,228 

2,746,076 

2,196,791 


586,762 


1897. 

83,248,054 

20,222,529 

16,924,618 

11,201,103 

5,109,663 

2,908,384 

2,316,296 


*600,000 


1898. 

*90,000,000 

*21,500,000 

16,354,061 

*12,679,143 

4,377,399 

*2,750,000 

*4,500,000 

*750,000 

*750,000 


Total, 


131,363,945 


142,119,230 142,530,646 


*153.660,603 


Michigan’s production of refined copper, in tons, has been as fol¬ 
lows since the first mines were opened: 


Year. 

Product. 

Year. 

Product. 


Tons. 

Lbs. 


Tons. 

Lbs. 

1843-54 . 

... 7,002 

1,727 

1878 . 

. 20,843 

1,266 

1855 . 

... 2,904 

1,334 

9 . 

. 21,335 

1,529 

1856 . 

... 4,108 

1,392 

1880 . 

. 24,859 

337 

7 . 

... 4,765 

830 

1 . 

. 27,274 

909 

8. 

... 4,579 

1,916 

2. 

. 28,577 

1,980 

9. 

... 4,463 

1,995 

3.. . 

. 29,851 

404 

1860 . 

... 6,034 

375 

4 . 

. 34,676 

1,202 

1 . 

... 7,591 

837 

5 . 

. 36.074 

172 

2 . 

... 6,793 

318 

6 . 

. 39,845 

1,600 

3... . 

... 6,492 

1,344 

7 . 

. 38,015 

— 

4 . 

... 6,245 

1,965 

8.. .. 

. 43,250 


5 . 

... 7,179 

592 

9 . 

. 44,090 

— 

6 . 

... 6,875 

63 

1890 . 

. 60.750 


7 . 

... 8,757 

1,607 

1 . 

. 57,112 

1,000 

8 . 

... 10,467 

124 

2. 

. 61,600 

— 

9. .. 

... 13,312 

1,301 

3. 

. 56,300 


1870 .... 

... 12,311 

759 

4. 

. 57,155 

— 

1 .... 

... 12,873 

448 

5 . 

. 65,681 

1,945 

2 . 

... 12,276 

1,523 

6 . 

. 71,054 

1,230 

3 . 

... 15,145 

1,505 

7 . 

. 71,265 

646 

4 . 

... 17,167 

389 

1898 . 

. *76,830 

603 

5 . 

... 18,019 

1,497 




6 . 

... 19,135 

997 

Total .. 

..1,190,361 

332 

7 . 

... 19,513 

671 





j 




































































62 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


The estimated copper production of the world for a ten year 
period, 1889 to 1898, inclusive, is as follows, in short tons: 


Fear. Tons Refined Copper. 

1889. 313,446 

*1890. 323,346 

1891 . 335,269 

1892 . 372,566 

1893 . 364,236 

1894 . 359,406 

1895 . 401,142 

1896 . 426,459 

1897 . 452,256 

1898 . 481,369 


The world’s copper production, as obtained from English sources, 
for the past four years has been as follows, figures being given in long 
tons of 2,240 pounds each, the gross ton being invariably used in all 
English metal transactions, whereas in the United States long tons 
are commonly used in the iron and steel trades and short tons of 2,000 
pounds in the copper trade: 


Country. 

1895. 

1896. 

1897. 

1898. 

United States. 

.... 172,300 

203,893 

216,060 

234,271 

Spain and Portugal. 

.... 54,950 

53,325 

54,060 

53,225 

Chile. 

.... 22,075 

23,500 

21,900 

24,850 

Japan. 

.... 18,430 

21,000 

23,000 

25,176 

Germany. 

.... 16,555 

20,065 

20,145 

20,085 

Australia. 

.... 10,000 

11,000 

17,000 

18,000 

Mexico. 

.... 11,620 

11,150 

11,370 

10,435 

South Africa. 

7.080 

7,450 

7,440 

7,060 

British America. 

4,000 

4.000 

5,905 

8,040 

Totals. 

... . 316,710 

355.383 

386,880 

401,141 


The percentage of the world’s supply of copper furnished by the 
United States has been as follows during the past four years: 


In 1895 .54% 

“ 1896.57“ 

“ 1897.56“ 

“ 1898.58 “ 
































STATISTICS OF COPPER PRODUCTION. 


63 


Dividends and Assessments. 


The following table shows all assessments levied and dividends 
paid to January 1, 1899, by all dividend-paying Lake Superior copper 
mines. Since the beginning of 1899 the Calumet & Hecla has paid one 
dividend of $4,000,000: 


Mines. 

Assessments. 

Dividends. 

Calumet & Hecla. 

.... $1,200,000 

$54,850,000 

Quincy. 

200,000 

10,120,000 

Tamarack. 

520,000 

5,430,000 

Osceola Consolidated. 

.... 1,700,000 

2,354,000 

Cliff.. 

111,000 

2,518,620 

Central. 

100,000 

1,990,000 

Minnesota. 

456,000 

1,820,000 

Franklin. 

320,000 

1,280,000 

Atlantic. 

280,000 

780,000 

National. 

320,000 

359,255 

Copper Falls. 

.... 1,000.000 

100,000 

Pewabic. 

585.200 

460,000 

Ridge. 

470,000 

100,000 

Phoenix. 

937,500 

20,000 

Wolverine. 

180,000 

60,000 

Total. 

.... $8,379,700 

$82,241,875 


In addition to the foregoing assessments on dividend paying prop¬ 
erties, about $12,000,000 has been levied on assessments of mining stock 
on which no dividends have been paid. Of the foregoing mines, the 
Cliff has long since passed from the possession of the corporation 
which developed the property and operated it until mined out. The 
Central is at present inactive, but has a large mineral area on which 
something of promise is reasonably certain to be found by diligent ex¬ 
ploratory work. The Minnesota is now known as the Michigan mine. 
The National has been idle some years, but is to resume work during 
1899. The Copper Falls is now a portion of the Arnold mine and the 
Pewabic a portion of the Quincy, while the Ridge is now a part of the 
Mass Consolidated property. The Phoenix is also again to be operated 
under a consolidation of that and adjoining properties. 





















64 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


Percentages of Refined Copper, 

The copper in the Lake Superior copper mines is found in native 
form, but necessarily contains more or less of the rock-matrix when 
barreled from the stamps. The crude copper coming in barrels from 
the stamp mills is known as “mineral”, and requires smelting to free 
it from the rock mechanically connected with it. The reporting 
mines give the figures of production of mineral at the stamp mills 
each month, and several of the mining companies, such as the Osceola 
and Tamarack, report production to the shareholders in “mineral” and 
not in refined copper. The percentage of copper contained in the min¬ 
eral coming from the various stamp mills varies greatly, owing to the 
difference in the nature of the rock matrices, (amygdaloids returning 
much higher percentages than conglomerates), and also by reason of 
the coarseness or fineness with which the mineral is dressed at the 
mills. The percentages carried by the “mineral” of the several mines 
varies from year to year, for obvious reasons, but the following table is 
a fair average: 


Mine. 

Wolverine. 

Osceola Consolidated, 

Franklin. 

Quincy. 

Atlantic. 

Tamarack. 

Calumet & Hecla. 


% Refined Copper 
in Mineral. 

. 86.5 

. 81.5 

. 81.4 

. 80.2 

.75.3 

. 70.3 

. 67.5 


Copper Percentages in Stamp Rock. 


The appended table gives, approximately, the percentage of refined 
copper obtained from the rock stamped at the various producing mines 
of the district. As the percentages vary from year to year, and from 
month to month, the figures can be considered as approximate only. 


Mines. 


% Copper in Rock 
Stamped. 


Calumet & Hecla. 3.05 

Tamarack. 1.61 

Quincy. 1.50 

Osceola. 1.25 

Tamarack Junior. 2.00 

Kearsarge. 1.50 

Wolverine. 1.35 

Franklin. 1.00 

Atlantic.01 




















% 



PHOTOCRAPHEO BY A. F. ISLER, LAKE LINDEN, MICHIGAN. 

LAKE LINDEN. 






























STATISTICS OF COPPER PRODUCTION. 


65 


The Osceola, Tamarack Junior and Kearsarge mines are all owned 
and operated by the Osceola Consolidated Company, but as the three 
mines are unconnected, and are opened on three separate amygdaloid 
belts of markedly divergent characteristics, it follows that any aver¬ 
age of Osceola Consolidated percentage for a single year would repre¬ 
sent merely the average of the yield of the three mines, and the figures 
would vary greatly from time to time, as more or less rock was stamped 
from one mine or the other. 

The percentages obtained from the same lodes by adjoining mines 
varies remarkably. The Quincy and Franklin work the same lode on 
either side of an imaginary line, yet the Quincy obtains 50 per cent 
more copper. The Calumet & Hecla gets an average of 70 pounds of 
copper to the ton of rock—31 per cent—while the Tamarack, working 
on the same lode, obtains but 1.61 per cent. The Tamarack Junior 
has mined no small quantity of rock from this lode which has given as 
high as 20 per cent refined copper, 400 pounds of ingot copper for every 
ton of rock stamped. 


mineral Bodies of the District. 

The working and developing mines of the counties of Houghton, 
Ontonagon and Keweenaw are without exception opened on mineral 
lodes or veins which carry native copper. There are, however, fissure 
veins of copper ore in Keweenaw county, carrying gray sulphurets, 
which assay as high as 25 per cent refined copper. The mines are open¬ 
ed on contact and fissure veins (none of these properties are working at 
present), and on conglomerate and amygdaloid beds. The country rock 
of the copper range is a blue trap, resting nonconforinably between a 
sandstone formation on either side. The trap rock is of igneous 
origin, being merely ancient lava flows. The amygdaloids are the 
frothy portions of these lava flows, similar to the slag which gathers 
on molten metal in a blast furnace. Being more or less porous, its 
interstices were filled with copper deposited from superincumbent 
seas by electro-chemical action. The conglomerates are ancient sea- 
beds, formed of boulders, gravel and sand, broken from the surround¬ 
ing shores by ancient seas. These also having interstices, copper was 
deposited therein by electro-chemical action from the sea. There are 
many belts of both conglomerate and amygdaloids in any given cross- 
section of the Keweenawan copper-bearing trap formation, but some 
of them do not carry copper, while others, such as the Allouez conglom- 



66 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OP LAKE SUPERIOR. 


erate, carry copper in considerable quantity, but not enough of the 
metal to allow its profitable extraction. 

The principal cupriferous lodes of the district are the Calumet 
Conglomerate, on which are opened the Calumet & Hecla, Tamarack 
and Tamarack Junior mines. The Osceola once worked this lode, but 
speedily exhausted the profitable portion. The Centennial has also 
spent fully 31,500,000 in an attempt to develop a mine on the Calumet 
Conglomerate, but with negative results. The Pewabic amygdaloid 
lode ranks next to the Calumet Conglomerate in dividend returns, and 
on it are opened the Quincy, Pewabic, (now a part of its neighbor and 
known as the North Quincy), the Franklin and Franklin Junior. The 
Rhode Island, a new property, is being opened on the same lode. 
The Osceola lode is worked by the Osceola mine, and is also being de¬ 
veloped by the Centennial and Calumet & Hecla mines, with an ex¬ 
cellent showing in each. It is also being opened on the Tecumseh 
property, with indifferent results as yet. The Kearsarge and Wolver¬ 
ine, both highly profitable small mines, are opened on the Kearsarge 
lode, and to the northward the Mohawk, an exceptionally promising 
mine, is being opened on the same lode. 

The Winona and Wyandot mines are being opened 26 miles south 
of Houghton on an amygdaloid which bears every resemblance to the 
Pewabic lode. As it also occupies the same horizon on the copper for¬ 
mation, its identity with the Pewabic is reasonably assured, despite 
the 25 mile tract intervening on which the Pewabic lode has not yet 
been discovered. 

The Isle Royale lode has the Huron, Isle Royale and Portage 
properties south of Portage Lake and the Arcadian to the northward 
opened upon it. The lode now being developed at the Old Colony 
mine is probably the same. This will be opened soon by the May¬ 
flower, immediately north of the Old Colony. 

The Portage lode, lying parallel with and near the Isle Royale, 
is opened on the Portage and Shelden & Columbian properties in 
Houghton. 

The Atlantic Ashbed, an amygdaloid, is worked by the Atlantic 
alone. It is quite possible later researches and development work 
will prove the identity of the Atlantic with the Ashbed lode, on which 
the Arnold, Humboldt, Ashbed and Meadow properties are now being 
worked in Keweenaw county. 

The Baltic is perhaps the only new lode opened in the district for 
thirty years or more. It is exceptionally wide and most promising. 
The success of the Baltic mine will unquestionably lead to the open¬ 
ing of new mines on the same lode, both north and south of the Baltic 
mine. 


STATISTICS OF COPPER PRODUCTION. 


6? 


Strike and Dip of gopper=Bearitig Codes. 

The strike of the copper-bearing lodes of the district is uniformly 
to the northward, although well toward the end of Keweenaw Point 
the copper formation lies at an angle but a few degrees north of east; 
and again in Ontonagon county there is another deflection by which 
the strike of the lodes is but a few degrees north of west. In Hough¬ 
ton County, from the Baltic to the Centennial mines, where nearly all 
of the regular producers are located, and where is found the greatest 
activity in the opening of new mines, the strike of the lodes is almost 
exactly north 30 degrees east for the entire distance. 

The dip of the lodes varies from point to point along the forma¬ 
tion and also across the formation; while no exact rule can be laid 
down for determining dips, it can be said in a general way that the 
angles of dip are invariably steepest where the trap formation is nar¬ 
rowest, and any given cross-section of the copper belt will show the 
dip at the sharpest angle nearest the Eastern Sandstone. The com¬ 
pressive force of the nonconformable sandstone was evidently applied 
from the eastern side. This is nicely shown by the Calumet Conglom-' 
erate, which dips at 37i degrees in the Calumet & Hecla, while the 
Osceola lode, lying 730 feet to the eastward on the surface of the same 
company’s lands, dips at an angle of 41 degrees. The Baltic lode dips 
at an angle of 71 degrees 73 minutes, the sharpest pitch of any mine 
yet opened; the reason being that the Baltic lies at a point where the 
copper formation is narrowest and that the mine itself is very near 
the Eastern Sandstone, the Baltic amygdaloid overlying the No. 3 
conglomerate at a distance of but 115 feet. The Isle Royale lode dips 
at an angle of 59 degrees, while the Pewabic lode, in a direct line to 
the northwestward across the formation, dips at 51 degrees in the 
Quincy and 52 degrees in the Franklin. The appended table gives the 
average dip of the mines named: 


Mine. 

Lode. 


Angle oe Dip. 

Calumet & Hecla. 



. 37 l /2 deg. 

T 'a m fl.rn.p. If.. 


0 

.37^4 

Tamarack Junior. 

“ 


. 37/ 2 

Quincy. 



. 51 




. 51 

Franklin Junior. 

it 


. 47 

Osceola.. 



. 41 

Isle Royale. 



. 59 

Arcadian. 

. “ . 


. 53 

Atlantic. 

.Atlantic. 


. 54 

Wolverine. 

.Kearsarge.. 


. 42 

Kearsarge. 

. “ . 


. 42 

Baltic. 































68 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


Depth of Shafts, 

The mining shafts of the copper district are the deepest in the 
world. The Red Jacket vertical shaft is 4,900 feet in depth. Nos. 3 
and 4 shafts of the Tamarack are each approximately 4,650 feet in 
depth. These, the three deepest shafts on the globe, are within one- 
half mile of each other and on the same lode. The Tamarack is sink¬ 
ing a new shaft, No. 5, begun in August, 1895, and to be completed in 
the spring of 1901, which will be a full mile, or over, in depth. The 
Calumet & Hecla has one shaft 5,370 feet in depth—ninety feet over a 
mile—but as this is sunk on the angle of the lode, at an incline of 37i 
degrees, it does not begin to reach the same vertical distance below 
earth’s surface as the shafts previously named. The Quincy has 
shafts exceeding 4,000 feet in depth, and the Osceola has one shaft 
down to nearly that depth. The Franklin has one shaft 3,200 feet deep. 
None of the other mines of the district have shafts over 3,000 feet in 
depth. 


Dividend Payments. 

The appended table gives dates of first and last dividends paid by 
all dividend paying Lake copper mines up to January 1, 1899: 



Mine. 

First Dividend. 

Last Dividend. 

1 

Cliff . 

. 1849 . 

. 1867 

(a) 

2 

Minnesota. 

. 1854 . 


(b) 

3 

National. .. 

. 1861 . 


(c) 

4 

Pewabic. 

. 1862 . 

. 1873 

(d) 

5 

Franklin. 

. 1863 . 


(e) 

6 

Quincy. 




7 

Central. 

. 1864 . 


( f) 

8 

Copper Falls. 

. 1864 . 



9 

Hecla. 

. 1869 . 


(0) 

10 

Calumet. 

. 1870 . 

. 1871 

(g) 

11 

Calumet & Hecla. 

. 1871 . 

. 1898 

(0) 

12 

Ridge. 

. 1873 . 

. 1880 

(h) 

13 

Phoenix. 

. 1877 . 


(0 

14 

Atlantic. 

. 1878 . 



15 

Osceola. 

. 1878 . 

. 1898 


16 

Tamarack. 

. 1888 . 

. 1898 


17 

Kearsarge. 

. 1890. 


U) 

18 

Wolverine. 




(a) Although the Cliff (Pittsburg & Boston Co.) paid its last reg¬ 
ular dividend in February, 1867, there were three subsequent divi¬ 
dends, in 1871, 1872 and 1879, respectively, in liquidation, amounting to 
a total sum of $238,620, in addition to the dividends of $2,280,000 earned 
from mining profits. Title to the Cliff mine passed from the hands of 







































STATISTICS OF COPPER PRODUCTION. 


69 


the Pittsburg & Boston Co. in 1879, and the affairs of the company were 
wound up and the corporation dissolved in that year. 

(6) Title to the Minnesota mine passed to Wm. B. Jeffs in the 
early eighties, thence from his heirs to the Michigan Copper Com¬ 
pany, the present owner. 

(c) The National mine has been idle since August, 1893, being the 
last of the Ontonagon county mines to succumb to the depression and 
low prices which began in 1889 and culminated in the so-called “panic 
years” beginning in 1893. Arrangements are now being made for re¬ 
sumption of mining work during the present season. 

(d) The Pewabic mine is now a part of the Quincy property. The 
Pewabic company paid dividends of $460,000 from mining profits be¬ 
tween September, 1862, and July, 1873. The charter expired, was not 
renewed and, a majority of the stock passing into hands adverse to the 
management, the mine was sold in 1890 by a special master in chancery 
for $710,000. Since that date two dividends in liquidation, amounting 
to $540,000, have been paid. There remains a considerable cash bal¬ 
ance in the hands of the master and a judgment for upwards of $100,- 
000 against the Franklin company. 

(e) The Franklin paid its last dividend on January 1, 3894. Since 
that date it has bought and opened the Franklin Junior mine, formerly 
the Peninsula and originally the Boston & Albany, a property of great 
promise. The Franklin has had its engine house burned three times, 
and its stamp mill Once, within the past decade. A new stamp mill 
is nearing completion. The capital stock was doubled in 1898 and the 
proceeds, $400,000, have been devoted to development and equipment 
upon a large and thoroughly modern scale. 

(/) The Central is at present idle, but exploratory work to be con¬ 
ducted this year promises to reveal workable amygdaloid lodes of 
greater permanency than the fissure vein on which the mine was 
opened originally. 

( g ) The Calumet and Hecla were originally opened as separate 
mines. The Hecla paid dividends of $650,000 and the Calumet paid 
$300,000 previous to the consolidation of these properties on May 1, 

1871. 

(h) Title to the Ridge mine was lost in 1896 by failure of the own¬ 
ers to pay taxes. The property is now a part of the lands of the Mass 
Consolidated company. 

(i) The first and last dividend of the Phoenix was paid on Jan. 20, 
1877, when one dollar per share, a total of $20,000, was returned to 
shareholders. Under a reorganization recently effected the Phoenix 
will soon be reopened. 

( j ) The Kearsarge paid three dividends, amounting to $160,000, 
before it was merged in the Osceola Consolidated company in 1897. 


70 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


Humber of Dividends. 

The number of dividends paid by the various copper mining com¬ 
panies to January 1, 1899, is shown by the following table: 

Total No. 

MirsL " Dividends Paid. 


1 Cliff. 37 

2 Minnesota. 19 

3 National. 9 

4 Pewahic. 11 

5 Franklin. 21 

6 Quincy. 65 

7 Central. 30 

8 Copper Falls. 3 

9 Hecla. 7 

10 Calumet. 3 

11 Calumet & Hecla. 109 

12 Ridge. 4 

13 Phoenix. 1 

14 Atlantic. 16 

15 Osceola. 46 

16 Tamarack:. 31 

17 Kearsarge. 3 

18 Wolverine. 1 


American Copper Production. 


The production of refined copper by American mines, in net tons 
of 2,000 pounds each, has been as follows since the Lake Superior mines 
began producing in 1845: 


Year. 

Product. 

Tons. 

Year. 

Product. 

Tons. 

Year. 

Product. 

Tons. 

1845.... 

. 112 

1863. 

..' 

1881. 

. ... 35.840 

6 .... 

. 168 

4. 

. 8,960 

2 . 

. 45,323 

7.... 

. 336 

5. 

. 9,520 

3. 

. 57,712 

8.... 

. 560 

6. 

. 9,968 

4. 

. 72,472 

9 . 

. 784 

7 . 

. 11,200 

5. 

.... 82,938 

18S0.... 

. 728 

8. 

. 12,992 

6 . 

. 80,617 

1 . 

. 1,008 

9. 

. 14.000 

7 . 

. 92,613 

2.. . 

. 1,232 

1870 . 

. 14,112 

8. 

. 115,635 

3.... 

. 2,240 

1 . 

. 14.560 

e . 

. 115,623 

4.... 

. 2,520 

' 2 . 

. 14.000 

1890.. 

. 132,557 

5.... 

. 3,360 

3. 

. 17,360 

1 . 

. 147,906 

6 .... 

. 4,480 

4. 

. 19,600 

2. 

. 176,485 

1 .... 

. 5,376 

5. 

. 20,160 

3. 

. 169,892 

8.... 

. 6,160 

6 . 

. 21,280 

4 . 

. 182,433 

9. 

. 7,056 

7 . 

. 23,520 

5. 

. 196,319 

I860.... 

. 8,064 

8. 

. 24,080 

6 . 

. 230,030 

1. 


9 

. 25,760 

7 

. 259,272 





1862 . 


1880. 

. 30,240 

1898. 

. 281,125 














































































r 


71 


STATISTICS OF COPPER iPROPUCTION, 


Prices of Cake Copper. 

Lake Superior copper commands a higher price in the markets of 
the world than copper from any other district, this premium varying 
from of one cent to one-quarter of one cent, according to demand. 
This enhanced price is due, not to the superior conductivity, as is 
generally thought, but to the greater ductility and tensile strength of 
lake copper, when compared with the metal produced in Montana, 
Chile, Spain or elsewhere. The electrical conductivity of Montana 
electrolytic copper is, if anything, a trifle superior to that of Lake 
copper, but the greater tensile strength of the latter makes it pre¬ 
eminently desirable for all forms of copper wire. 

The Lake copper leaves the smelters in the form of cakes, bars and 
ingots, mainly in the latter form. Cakes weighing as much as 7,000 
pounds have been turned out of the Lake Linden smelters of the 
Calumet & Hecla on a special Russian order. The highest and lowest 
prices obtained for Lake ingot copper, at New York, for the past thirty- 
five years, have been as follows : 


PRIDE IN CENTS PER POUND. PRICE IN CENTS PER POUND. 


Year. 

Highest. 

Lowest. 

Year. 

Highest. 

Lowest. 

1864 . 


39.00 

1882 . 

. 20.50 

17.87 

5 . 


28.00 

3 . 

. 18.00 

14.75 

6 

.. .. 42.00 

26.50 

4 . 

. 15.00 

10.50 

.7 . 


21.50 

5 .. 


10.50 

8. 

. 24.50 

21.25 

6 . 

. 12.12 

10.00 

9 

. 27.00 

21.50 

7 . 

. 17.87 

9.87 

1870 

.... 22.50 

19.00 

8 . 

. 1762 

15.87 

1 

.. 27 25 

21.12 

9 . 

. 17.50 

11.00 

2 

.. 45.00 

27.25 

1890 . 

. 17.25 

14.00 

3 . 

. 35.00 

20.00 

1 . 

. 14.50 

10.25 

4 

.. 25 00 

19.00 

2 . 

. 12.37 

10.50 

5 . 

. 23.50 

21.50 

3 . 

. 12.50 

9.50 

6 . 

. 23.00 

18.75 

4 . 

. 10.25 

9.00 

7 . 

. 20.37 

1750 

5 . 

. 12.25 

9.37 

8 . 

. 17-62 

15.50 

6 . 

. 12.00 

9.75 

9 . 

. 21.75 

15.37 

1897 . 

. 12.00 

10.75 

1880 . 

. 24.87 

18.00 

8 . 

. 13.25 

11.00 


1. 20.25 16.00 





































72 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OE LAKE SUPERIOR. 


Bigb Prices of Kopper Stocks. 

The following tables give the highest prices at which copper 
shares have sold since January 1, 1899, up to March 24, 1899: 


LISTED COPPER STOCKS. 


Mine. 

Price Per 

Total Valuation 

Share. 

of Mines. 

Arcadian . 

.$ 95.25 . 

.$ 9,525,000 

Arnold . 

.. .. 15.00. 

. 900,000 

Allouez . 

. 13.00. 

. 1,040,000 

Atlantic . 

... . 44.50. 

. 1,780,000 

Adventure. 

. 18. 12% . 

. 1,812,500 

Baltic. 

. 36.50. 

. 3,650.000 

Calumet & Hecla.... 

. 895.00. 

. 89,500,000 

Centennial . 

. 61.00. 

. 6,100,000 

Franklin . 

. 30.00. 

. 2,400,000 

Isle Roy ale . 

. 73.50. 

. 7,350.000 

Mohawk . 

. 36.00. 

. 3,600,000 

Old Colony . 

. 21.50. 

. 2,150,000 

Osceola . 

. 105.00. 

. 10,500,000 

Quincy . 

. 190.00. 

. 19,000,000 

Rhode Island . 

. 15.00. 

. 1,500.000 

Tamarack . 

. 265.00. 

. 15,900,000 

Winona . . 


. 2,250,000 

Wolverine . 

. 50.00. 

. 3,000,000 

Total for eighteen mines. 

.$181,957,500 


Among the unlisted stocks dealt in on the curb, the following 
quotations can be given as only approximating the truth, as no official 
record of transactions in these shares is ever kept: 


Mine. 

Price Per 
Share. 

Total Valuation 
of Mines. 

Wyandot..., 

.$11.50. 

.$1,150,000 

Mayflower. 

. . 8.50. 

. 850,000 

Miner’s. 

. 45.00. 

. 4,500,000 

Mass Consolidated..., 

. 18.00 . 

. 1,800,000 

Michigan. 

. 19.50 . 

. 1,950,000 

Tri-Mountain. 

. 16.00 . 

. 1,600,000 

Victoria. 

. 11.50 . 

. 1,150,000 

Total, seven mines. 

. $13,000,000 


In addition to the two previous classes, there is a third, composed 
of inactive stocks, such as Washington, Central, Ashbed, Ahmeek, 
Seneca, Florida, Laurium, Meadow, Humboldt and some others; 
quotations on which are rare, but the aggregate value of which, at the 
present time, may be set down as at least $8,000,000, and perhaps 
$5,000,000. 























































STATISTICS OF COPPER PRODUCTION, 


73 


mine Stock Capitalizations* 

The capitalizations of the leading copper mining companies are 
as follows, the par value of each share of stock, under the Michigan law, 
being $25. All of the corporations operating or arranging to operate 
mines in the Lake Copper district are chartered under the laws of 
Michigan, though the Arcadian, Isle Royale, and perhaps others iden¬ 
tified with the so-called “Standard Oil” properties, are to be re-incor¬ 
porated under the laws of New Jersey, which are much less stringent 
than those of Michigan : 


Mining Company. No. Shares. 

Arcadian. 100,000.. 

Arnold. 60,000.. 

Allouez. 100,000.. 

Atlantic. 40,000.. 

Adventure. 100,000.. 

Ahmeek. 20,000.. 

Ashbed. 40,000.. 

Baltic. 100,000.. 

Calumet & Hecla. 100,000.. 

Centennial. 100,000.. 

Central. 20,000.. 

Franklin. 80,000.. 

Florida. 20,000.. 

Humboldt. 40,000.. 

Isle Royale. 100,000.. 

Mohawk. 100,000 .. 

Miner’s. 100,000.. 

Mayflower. 100,000.. 

Mass Consolidated. 100,000 . 

Michigan. 100,000.. 

Meadow. 60,000.. 

Old Colony. 100,000.. 

Osceola. 100,000.. 

Quincy. 100,000 

Rhode Island. 100,000.. 

Seneca. 40,000.. 

Tamarack. 60,000 

Union Land & Copper... 100,000.. 

Victoria. • 100,000.. 

Winona. 100,000.. 

Wolverine. 60,000 . 

Wyandot. 100,000.. 

Washington. 40,000.. 


Par Value. 

$2,500,000 
.. 1,500,000 
.. 2,500,000 
.. 1,000,000 
.. 2,500,000 
500,000 
.. 1,000,000 
.. 2,500,000 
.. 2,500,000 
.. 2,500,000 
500,000 
.. 2,000,000 
500,000 
.. 1,000,000 
.. 2,500,000 
.. 2,500,000 
.. 2,500,000 
.. 2,500,000 
.. 2,500,000 
.. 2,500,000 
.. 1,500,000 
.. 2,500,000 
.. 2,500,000 
.. 2,500,000 
.. 2,500,000 
.. 1,000.000 
.. 1,500,000 
.. 2,500,000 
.. 2,500.000 
. 2,500,000 

.. 1,500,000 
.. 2,500,000 
.. 1.000,000 

$ 64 , 500,000 


Total 





















































































PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


75 


Producing and Prospective Copper mines* 


Results of the Application of modern mining methods to Cbeir Devel* 
opment in the Cake Copper Region. 


The main purpose of this Review is to familiarize the outside 
public—particularly that portion of it which is investing in “coppers” 
—with the present condition of the copper mining industry in the 
Lake district, the prospect for it in the future and the promise it 
holds for those who invest in the shares of copper mining companies, 
old and new. 

The need for such a work has been created by the deep and wide¬ 
spread interest in coppers which has developed within the past two 
years, this having during that interval caused millions of dollars to 
flow into the Lake region from all parts of the world for investment 
in producing mines, or the exploitation of undeveloped properties that 
are believed to have value. This influx of capital has brought about a 
wonderful advance in the value of developed mines of the district, 
and the flotation of a large number of new properties, and the intend¬ 
ing investor has need to learn something of the propositions that in¬ 
vite him to risk his money in ventures regarding which he may be but 
slightly informed. 

The historical portion of the Review, also that devoted to a de¬ 
scription of the geological characteristics of the copper belt running 
through the counties of Keweenaw, Houghton and Ontonagon, no less 
than the statistics of the copper industry, given in preceding pages, 
possess an interest and value of their own, but it may be safely as¬ 
sumed that the bulk of the readers of this little work will be more 
concerned in what it acquaints him with regarding the Lake copper 
industry as it exists today, the present and prospective values of the 
properties which invite investment, and the causes which underlie 
and have produced the present remarkable activity in the copper 
market, than in a recital of what has been accomplished in the past, 
marvelous though that may be, 




COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


76 


In no other part of the country has the increase in property 
values during the past two years been as great as in the three counties 
named, in which are located the great copper properties whose rich¬ 
ness has made the state noted among her sisters of the Union. The 
cause of this advance puzzles many, and there are those who regard it 
as having no adequate producing, or sustaining, cause, and believe it 
to be only a promoted result of a purely speculative movement set on 
foot by manipulators of the stock market for a selfish purpose, which 
will subside as suddenly as it grew, when it has run its appointed 
course. 

If this view were correct, the wise thing for the public to do 
would be to let copper shares severely alone. But it is not correct, 
even approximately, and the best proof of its incorrectness is to be 
found in the significant fact that millions of dollars have been placed 
aside by the new companies for expenditure in the development of 
properties that are believed to have value; and that it is conceded to 
be certain that some of these are sure to soon take rank among the 
dividend-earners, bringing large returns to those who put money in 
them at the present value of their shares on the market. Some of the 
propositions presented to investors will not bear close and intelligent 
scrutiny, unquestionably, but only the stupid or recklessly careless 
investor will put money into these with the means for informing him¬ 
self as to the properties that have merit, and those which lack it, so 
easily and readily obtainable. 

The readiness with which money is now enlisted in the develop¬ 
ment of copper properties which are presumed to have value comes 
from the remarkable strength of the market for the metal itself, 
which has advanced in price about 50 per cent within twelve months 
in the face of an increased production, and in spite of an effort put 
forth by some of the larger producers to hold the price down to what 
they, for reasons of their own, consider to be as high as it should go. 
But the market value of copper has climbed to the figure it now 
brings in response to a steadily growing consumption of the metal, 
which has latterly outrun production, and this sufficiently explains 
why capital now shows such readiness to engage in the development 
of copper properties that have long been permitted to remain un¬ 
touched, though it was known that only proper handling was required 
to make them large and profitable producers. 

It may be well to here call attention to the significant fact that 
when the great French copper syndicate artificially advanced the 
price of copper in 1887, from less than twelve cents a pound to over 
seventeen, holding it at an average advanced price of sixteen and 
three-fourths cents until the syndicate collapsed in 1889, the increase 
in the selling price of the metal utterly failed to promote the develop- 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


77 


ment of new producers in the Lake district. The profit in the produc¬ 
tion of copper at the price the syndicate made for the metal in the 
markets of the world was sufficient to have created an interest in the 
development of new properties such as now exists; nevertheless it 
failed to materialize. Capitalists well knew that the advance in price 
was the result of manipulation, and could not continue, and warily let 
propositions having in view investment in the development of new 
producers alone. But now capital is aware that the advance has come 
through natural causes, in response to a steadily growing consumption 
of the metal in a variety of new uses to which it is being applied, and 
is eager to lend its aid to propositions for the flotation of meritorious 
properties which heretofore it was wont to scrutinize with a coldly 
critical eye. 

The publishers of this Review have aimed to place the producing 
and prospective mines treated of in the succeeding pages fully and 
fairly before the public, as nearly as this may be done within the lim¬ 
its of so modest a work. Their representative in the copper district, 
Mr. S. J. Beahan, who has capably conducted the Copper Department 
of The Mining Journal for the past two years, has written up each 
of these properties after careful examination, and they feel that they 
are safe in vouching for the conscientiousness and value of his work. 


Houghton County Properties* 


Calumet $ fiecla mining Company* 

The Calumet & Hecla stands pre-eminently at the head of the 
world’s mining industries; an exalted position from which it will not 
be dethroned for long years to come, during which period the property 
will continue to enrich its fortunate shareholders, probably at a rate 
even greater than that of recent years, as the outlook for this wonder¬ 
ful mine was never so bright as it is at present. 

During the general business depression of recent years the copper 

- 




78 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


district of Michigan suffered 4 to a trifling extent only, this happy circum¬ 
stance being very largely due to the fact that within its borders was 
a mine yielding enormous profits and paying a high rate of wages, even 
with the price of the metal not much more than half of what it has 
been of late. Thecearnings of this company find no equal in the his¬ 
tory of mining or commercial ventures, while its recent dividend of 
$4,000,000 is without a parallel. In securing a stretch of mineral land 
which is underlaid by the greatest wealth of copper ever opened, the 
foundation for the company’s property was luckily, as well as securely, 
laid, as mining on the same lode, both north and south of its boundary, 
has failed to yield profitable results after the expenditure of enormous 
sums. To the west of the company’s lands lies the Tamarack, which 
carries the Calumet conglomerate lode, and it is only on these proper¬ 
ties that this vein has yielded profits, though millions have been ex¬ 
pended in vain efforts to secure hoped-for results on a number of other 
mineral tracts by which the lode is traversed. And yet this was not 
all loss in the fullest sense. The Osceola company was organized in 
1873 to work the Calumet conglomerate lode south, but the company, 
finding it barren at that point, turned its attention to the other min¬ 
eral belts traversing its property, which resulted in the discovery of 
the Osceola amygdaloid lode, since proved to be of great value. The 
Centennial, north, furnishes a similar case, where developments on the 
Osceola lode give promise of a good future, though the conglomerate 
has been found unprofitable. The Allouez might be cited as another 
instance, the effect being the development of the Osceola lode on the 
properties above referred to much earlier at least than would have been 
the case were it not for the effort originally made to develop the con¬ 
glomerate. 

The Calumet conglomerate lode was discovered by Edward J. Hurl- 
but, a -civil engineer in the employ of the Cliff Mining company, in 
1865, and before the year rolled by the Calumet Mining company was 
organized and had commenced operations on the most valuable mineral 
discovery of the present age. The early development work produced 
rather indifferent results, and before the close of the year 1865 the stock 
was selling for one dollar per share. In the early summer of 1866, the 
Hecla company was organized, as an offshoot from the Calumet Mining 
company. The stock was apportioned to holders of Calumet stock at 
five dollars per share, and the funds thus realized were devoted to the 
development of the property on a broader scale. The great value of the 
conglomerate began to be demonstrated and the stock of both com¬ 
panies rose during the winter of 1896 to $75 per share. The future of 
both companies was well assured, and stockholders willingly paid the 
assessments necessary to place the properties on a profitable working 
basis. Three years later Hecla stock was quoted at $85, and in Decern- 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


79 


ber, 1869, the company paid its first dividend, amounting to three 
dollars per share. The Calumet followed with its first dividend in 
August, 1870. 

The Calumet and Hecla companies were consolidated May 1, 1871, 
up to which time the Calumet stock had been assessed $15 per share and 
had paid $15 in dividends^ and the Hecla had been assessed $25 per 
share and paid $32.50 in dividends. 

With the consolidation of the two companies the capital was 
made $1,000,000, divided into 40,000 shares of a par value of $25 each. 
Shortly after the number of shares was increased to 50,000, and again 
in 1873 to 80,000. In 1879 the capital was increased to $2,500,000, 
divided into 100,000 shares of a par value of $25 each. 

The company’s mineral lands comprise about 2,600 acres, situate in 
Calumet township. Adjoining on the north are the Centennial and 
Tamarack Junior, on the south the Osceola, and on the west the Tama¬ 
rack. The Calumet conglomerate, which is the most westerly lode, trav¬ 
erses the entire length of the property, a distance of more than two 
miles. East of the conglomerate 750 feet is the Osceola amygdaloid 
lode, upon which three shafts are being sunk, and some distance still 
further east is the Kearsarge amygdaloid vein. 

The immense profits secured by the company have been from the 
Calumet conglomerate vein. The average bearing of this lode is north 
33 degrees and 31 minutes east, and its general dip with the horizon 
about 38 degrees northwesterly. Its elevation above Lake Superior is 
655 feet. The lode averages about 13 feet in width, and the rock 
yields a trifle more than 4 per cent mineral. Beginning at the north 
end, known as the Calumet branch, the approximate depths of the 
shafts on the plane of the lode are as follows: No. 5, 5,500 feet; No. 4, 
5,800 feet; No. 2, 4,600 feet. Hecla branch—No. 2, 3,900 feet; No. 3, 
3,900 feet; No. 6, 4,700 feet; No. 7, 4,800 feet; No. 8, 4,100 feet; Nos. 
9 and 10, 8,500 feet; No. 11, 1,500 feet; No. 12, 4,600 feet. Calumet 
shafts Nos. 1 and 3 and Hecla shaft No. 1 have been abandoned since 
the underground fire of 1887 and 1888, and the territory is now reached 
from Calumet No. 2 and Hecla No. 2 shafts, respectively. The un¬ 
derground openings are always kept well advanced, and the company’s 
reserves are regarded as ample, at the present rate of production, for 
nearly, if not fully, twelve years’ operation. 

The equipment of this mine is unequalled by any in the world, 
and installed in its engine houses are some of the most powerful 
hoisting engines ever built. The machinery that attracts, probably, 
the most attention from sight-seers is locally known as the “Jumbo”, 
which is installed in the Calumet engine house, a building of brick 
and stone, 146x62 feet. In this structure are the engine “Superior”, 
with cylinders of 40" and 70"x72" stroke, of 4,700 horse-power; the Cor- 


30 COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 

lis s engine “Rockland *\ 30 w x48'', of 600 horse-power, used as a spare; 
the Leavitt engine “Baraga”, 40"x60", of 2,000 horse-power, also a 
spare; QilB pair of 32"x 48" Rand compressors with a capacity of 26 air 
s nils, and one pair of 36"x 60" Rand compressors, with a capacity of 41 
air drills. There are four drums, 20 feet 64 inches in diameter by 
8 teet 4 inches face, to hoist from a depth of 4,000 feet from shafts 
JNos, 2 4 and 5 Calumet and from No. 3 Hecla. The “Macinac”, 
which is used for the compressors, is a four-cylinder triple-expansion 
engine of 7,000 horse-power, and undoubtedly the largest in Michi- 
gan. The old boiler house is 77x60 feet, and contains a battery of 
hve boiiers, two of 84 inches in diameter by 35 feet long, and three 
o Jn “ Ches diameter ^ 34 feet 64 inches long, the battery giving 
’ / horse-power. The new boiler house contains six boilers. The 
smoke-stack is 12 feet 6 inches in diameter and 250 feet in height. 

i^f la engine house is a brick building, 80x47 feet, with an 
4x 174 feet, and contains the compound engine “Frontenac” 27£" 
48 ” x72 ”’ of 2 ’ 000 horse-power; the Corliss engine “La Salle,” 
«m X ’°1 900 borse-power, used as a spare: and the Corliss engine 
Perrot , 30 x48", of 600 horse-power, also a spare engine; in addition, 
f? e t 7° pa ! r ° f compressors, water-plunge type, 42"x60", with a capac- 
^ °f 0 l 44 T drills ’ 72 drills for each sefr ’ one P air of Rand compressors, 
28 x4 ’ ° a Capacity of 31 air drills. The boiler house is of brick, 
80 x 08 , and contains five boilers having a total capacity of 1,690 horse¬ 
power. The brick stack is 44 feet in diameter and 120 feet high. 

. At tke Hecla another hoisting plant consists of the triple-expan¬ 
sion engines “Gratiot” ? “Houghton” and “Seneca”, of 2,000 horse¬ 
power each, having cylinders 18" and 27f" and 48"x90", fitted with 
conical hoisting drums to reach to a depth of 5,500 feet. The en¬ 
gine house is of stone, 112'x78'. The boiler house, of the same ma¬ 
terial, is 76 x 68 . There are five boilers of 505 horse-power each, 90 
inches m diameter by 344 feet long. The brick stack is 94 feet in di- 
ameter and 200 feet high. These engines operate Hecla shafts 
Nos. 3, 6 and 7. The engine house for Hecla shafts Nos. 7 and 8 

the tri P le -expansion engines “Hancock” and “Pewabic”, each 
,000 horse-power and each operating by spur gearing its own drum 
which is 25 feet in diameter by 8 feet 2| inches face, having a rope ca 
pacity of 5,500 feet of If inch diameter. The cylinder! are 204" 
and 31F and 50"x48". The maximum speed is 92 revolutions 7er 
minute, which is 3f revolutions to one of the drums. The house is of 
stone, 122 x 50 feet. The boiler house, 150 x 65 feet, affords room for 10 
ff* S * The s t ack is 124 feet inside diameter and 250 feet high 
Shafts Nos. 9 and 10, are operated from an engine house built of 
™ n ?* 7 f x46 It} con lains two compound hoisting engines, the 
Detroit and Onota”, of 1,000 horse-power combined, having cylin- 



photocraphed by a. f. isler, CALUMET & HECLA SMELTING WORKS, LAKE LINDEN, MICH. 

LAKE LINDEN. 

































PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


81 


ders 18" and 32" with 48" stroke. These engines drive hy spur gear¬ 
ing two hoisting drums, each 20 feet in diameter by 8 feet 4 inch face, 
and will wind 4,000 feet of H inch rope. Shafts Nos. 11 and 12, are op¬ 
erated by a pair of Woodruff and Beach engines of 20 inches diameter 
by 48 inch stroke, with two drums 8 feet in diameter and 6 foot face. 
The shaft houses each contain a Westinghouse driving engine of 60 
horse-power and two Blake crushers; also a bin with a capacity of 1,500 
tons. Located at No. 5 Calumet and at No. 4 Hecla are fans 30 feet in 
diameter with a capacity of about 100,000 cubic feet of air a minute, 
which are used for underground ventilation. By all odds the largest 
and deepest shaft in the world is that of this company, known as the 
“Bed Jacket”, which is sunk vertically to a depth of 4,900 feet. This 
wonderful undertaking was planned after the two mine tires of 1887, in 
order to insure the company against the loss of the northern extremity 
of the mine, in *case of a similar future disaster. The Red Jacket 
shaft is located 2,000 feet east of the west boundary. The site was laid 
out by the company’s civil engineers, August 4, 1888, and two days lat¬ 
er ground was broken and the work under way. Toward the close of 
1893, the lode was cut at a depth of 3,287 feet. The greatest amount 
of sinking accomplished in any one month was 127 feet. The dimen¬ 
sions of this shaft are 15£x25 feet. It contains six hoisting compart¬ 
ments in which there will be in operation four 10-ton and two 
2-ton cages. The bottom of this shaft was reached February 15, 1896, 
when the extension of cross-cuts was at once begun. Connections 
have been established with No.4 shaft at the thirty-sixth, thirty-ninth, 
forty-second, fifty-seventh and sixtieth levels. The plan is to extend 
every third level. The lode has been reached at the thirty-sixth, thir¬ 
ty-ninth, forty-second, fifty-seventh, sixtieth, sixty-third and sixty- 
sixth levels, while at the four latter levels drifting on the lode is under 
way. 

The forty-fifth, forty-eighth, fifty-first, sixty-ninth and seventy-sec¬ 
ond levels are under way. Cross-cuts have been started from the seven¬ 
ty-eighth and eighty-first levels. The working depth of the shaft is 4,800 
feet, the distance below this point being used as a sump. The main 
hoisting engine house, built of stone, 220x70 feet, contains two pairs of 
triple-expansion engines of 3,000 horse-power per pair, having cylinders 
20i", 31f" and 50” in diameter with six foot stroke, to run 60 revo¬ 
lutions per minute, and fitted with the Whiting drum system arrang¬ 
ed to hoist ten tons per load, at a speed of sixty feet a second. 

The tail house for the fleet gear, 412 x 32 feet, is at the north end of 
the engine house. These engines are calculated to hoist from a maxi¬ 
mum vertical depth of 5,000 feet. 

The boiler house, of stone, 150x68 feet, will contain ten boilers, 

each 90 inches in diameter by 34i feet long, and adapted to a working 
6 


82 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OP LAKE SUPERIOR. 


pressure of 185 pounds, at which each will furnish steam for 1,000 
horse-power. The stack is of brick, 124 feet inside diameter and 250 
feet high. For this shaft also, the sinking-engine house, of stone, 
69x36 feet, contains a pair of horizontal-tandem Corliss engines, with 
cylinders 16" x 32" in diameter having a four-foot stroke, with tail-rope 
house and the Whiting drum system. 

The shaft house, of steel, is 104 x 84 feet and contains four 24"x 36" 
and eight 13"x 30" rock crushers of the Blake pattern, made of gun met¬ 
al, also two high speed triple-expansion engines, each 275 horse-power. 

In the territory tributary to the Red Jacket shaft is found the 
richest conglomerate, and the increased production from this source 
will be large. 

The combined capacity of the six cages is 44 tons, and should they 
make a round trip every ten minutes, working 20 hours a day, the rock 
hoisted would amount to 5,280 tons, or more than any mine in the dis¬ 
trict, except the Calumet & Hecla, is mining. 

The development of the Osceola amygdaloid lode by the Calumet 
& Hecla company commenced in December, 1897, prior to which drifts 
had been driven to it from the underground workings of the conglom¬ 
erate at three places. The shafts on this belt are Nos. 13, 14 and 
15, each of which has attained an approximate depth of 900 feet. The 
best results have been obtained at shaft No. 13. The older work¬ 
ings are protected from the ravages of Are by a carefully planned sys¬ 
tem of fire-alarms, fire-doors and pipe-lines carrying water for fire pro¬ 
tection. The companies of firemen are organized from among the em¬ 
ployees, all of whom are thoroughly drilled in the methods of fighting 
fire. The property is equipped with electric bells and a private tele¬ 
phone system. The company has, in addition to this, three steam fire- 
engines at the mine and a full complement of carts, hose, etc. Six du¬ 
plex fire-pumps are located at various of the engine houses at the 
mine, all of which can be brought into service in case of fire. 

Four and one-half miles distant on the shore of Lake Superior is 
located the company’s pumping station. The equipment consists of a 
Worthington high-pressure compound condensing pump with cylin¬ 
ders 194" and 33f"x24", and plungers 9"x24"; two spare Worth¬ 
ington pumps with cylinders 10"x8"; two boilers 64 inches in 
diameter by 17 feet in length, of 300 horse-power, and one boiler 54 
inches in diameter of 100 horse-power. The capacity is 2,000,000 gallons 
a day. The water is taken from a pipe 18 inches in diameter, extend¬ 
ing 1,200 feet into Lake Superior, and is pumped through a 12-inch 
wrought-iron pipe-line 44 miles in length to an altitude of more than 
700 feet to the mine, where it is distributed over the whole location. 
The water works building at the mine contains a Leavitt pumping 
engine of a capacity of 5,000,000 gallons a day, steam cylinders Ilf" 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


83 


and plungers 17"x24". In addition there are two Worthington 
pumping engines, of a capacity of 14,000,000 gallons; one pump 
with steam cylinders 14" and 24"x36", and 20"x36" plungers, of a 
capacity of 4,000,000 gallons; and two others with cylinders of steam 
21" and 42"x36", and 29"x36" plungers, of a capacity of 10,000,000 
gallons. A pipe line 16 and 24 inches in diameter runs to the Su¬ 
perior engine house, and from there north and south along the lode. 
The mine is connected with the company’s milling plant at Lake Lin¬ 
den by the Hecla & Torch Lake railroad, which is owned and operated 
by the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company. The road is about ten 
miles in length and is fully equipped. 

On the shore of Torch Lake are located the company’s stamp mills, 
which are treating in the neighborhood of two million tons of rock 
per year. 

Each of the two mills contains eleven Leavitt heads with steam 
cylinders of 14" and 21V, with 24" stroke, and a complete equip¬ 
ment of washers, grinding mills and slime tables. The pumping 
plant which supplies the mills with water consists of the triple-expan¬ 
sion pumping engine “Michigan”, having a capacity of 60,000,000 gal¬ 
lons daily, and the following spare pumps: The compound pumping 
engine “Erie”, with a daily capacity of 10,000,000 gallons; the com¬ 
pound pumping engine “Ontario”, with a capacity of 20,000,000 gal¬ 
lons daily, and the geared pumping engine “Huron”, with a capacity 
of 20,000,000 gallons daily. By means of wire rope transmission, the 
compound engine “Wabeek”, 22f" and 38"x60" stroke, of 780 horse¬ 
power, operates the washing machinery, steam-valve gear, and sand 
wheels. Four wheels distribute the stamped sand, two for each mill. 
The forty-foot sand wheels have a capacity of 18,000,000 gallons of 
water and 1,600 tons of sand, and the fifty-foot wheel a capacity of 
30,000,000 gallons and 3,000 tons of sand. 

Some thirteen years ago the company decided to do all of its own 
smelting, and accordingly erected a plant at South Lake Linden, on a 
tract of land comprising about thirty acres facing the shore of Torch 
Lake. There are four furnace buildings 80 x 130 feet; a blister furnace 
building, 50x70 feet; a cupola building, shops, offices, etc. The two 
mineral buildings have bin capacities of 11,000 tons. 

The buildings, including the laboratory and drafting rooms, are 
properly equipped and the entire plant is capable of and renders most 
excellent service. James B. Cooper is superintendent and Charles 
Smith clerk. 

It is the policy of this company as far as practicable to guard 
against all possible contingencies. The coal famine of ’93, following 
the railroad employees’ strike, was a severe experience to a great many 
large consumers of bituminous coal. It was felt to some extent by 


84 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


the local mines, and to guard against its recurrence the Calumet & 
Hecla at once proceeded to erect a mammoth coal shed at South Lake 
Linden, in addition to the old one of 80,000 tons capacity, and henceforth 
a supply of coal sufficient for something like two years will be kept on 
hand. The coal storage capacity next year will be 200,000 tons. 

The real estate of the company consists of 2,599i acres of mineral 
lands in Houghton county and 20,852 acres of timber lands in Keweenaw, 
Houghton and Ontonagon counties. At the stamp mill there are 988 
acres. There are more than 800 dwellings on the various properties 
owned by the company, and a much larger number of houses erected by 
employees on lots leased from the company. There are twenty-six 
churches on the property of the company, and in the work of building 
them the various religious societies can testify to the liberal donations 
made by this corporation in the interest of furthering the cause of 
Christianity. It can truthfully be said that a mining corporation more 
generous, liberal and considerate toward its employees exists nowhere. 
The employees of all the mines on the copper range are well treated, as 
is evidenced by the absence of labor troubles; but unfortunately all are 
not working Calumet conglomerates, and the smaller producers could 
scarcely attempt to follow the exceptionally liberal policy of the Calu¬ 
met & Hecla tending to the spiritual, mental and physical welfare of 
its employees, numbering during the summer season about 5,000. The 
school houses on the company’s property were built at its expense. In 
addition to the churches and schools mentioned, there is at the mine a 
manual training school well equipped and a handsome public library 
containing some 7,000 volumes, which number will be increased 
to 25,000. The library is constantly being added to and will soon con¬ 
tain many fine works published in foreign languages, some of which 
have already arrived. In the basement of the library are located some 
thirty bath rooms, the privileges of which are also free to all em¬ 
ployees. The company’s hospital is excelled by few in the larger cities, 
and the same might be said of its corps of physicians, at the head of 
which is Hr. E. H. Pomeroy. During the past two years the hospital 
and medical service has been rendered the employees free of any charge. 

The company’s smelting plant at Buffalo is located on the Niagara 
river. The mineral house has a capacity of nearly 14,000 tons. The 
two refining furnace buildings are of brick, 140 x 88 feet, and the blister 
furnace is 50 x 55 feet. Added to this are the various shops, offices, docks, 
storage houses, slag shed, cupola building, etc. Wonderful as is the 
company’s surface equipment it is almost constantly undergoing im¬ 
provement at some point or other, as well as being added to. After 
this long and most successful period the Calumet & Hecla Mining 
Company has yet, it is believed, to reach the zenith of its career. Up 
to the present time the mine has produced about 1,269,000,000 pounds 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


85 


of refined copper, and has paid to its shareholders in dividends the sum 
of $59,850,000. The last report issued by the company is dated April 
30, 1898, and shows cash assets amounting to $6,558,456.46. 

The main office of the company is in Boston. Alexander Agassiz 
is president; T. L. Livermore, vice president, and George A. Flagg, 
secretary and treasurer. The local officers are S. B. Whiting, general 
manager; S. D. Warriner, superintendent; John Duncan, assistant 
superintendent; J. H. Lathrop, clerk; J. N\ Cox, cashier; P. F. C. 
West, civil and mining engineer; James W. Milligan, chief mining cap¬ 
tain; Thomas Wills, Thomas Hoatson, Jr., James Wilson and William 
Wear, mining captains. At the stamp mill F. G. Coggin is superin¬ 
tendent and H. W. Cake assistant superintendent. W. A. Childs is 
superintendent of the Hecla & Torch Lake railroad. 


Camarack mining Company. 

The mineral lands of the Tamarack comprise 1,280 acres, situated 
directly west of the Calumet & Hecla, in sections 10, 11, 14 and 15. 
The company is an offshoot of the Canal company, and the commence¬ 
ment of mining operations by it marked the inception of the most in¬ 
teresting project in the history of the mining industry in the Lake 
copper region. Much has been said and written regarding the organi¬ 
zation of this company and its decision to go ahead and develop the 
property. The true condition of affairs was that in the early eighties 
the Calumet & Hecla company fully appreciated the immense value of 
the Tamarack lands and submitted a proposition to J. D. Clark, since 
deceased, of the Clark-Bigelow syndicate, for their purchase. Mr. 
Clark gave the proposition some consideration, as he at once consult¬ 
ed the late John Daniell, then superintendent of the Osceola, regard¬ 
ing it. The matter was held under advisement for some little time, 
during which the question of working the property through vertical 
shafts received attention. 

Captain Daniell held that the project was feasible, and in this 
was strongly supported by the present general manager, Wiliam E. 
Parnall, and others. The result was that Mr. Clark declined the offer 
and the Tamarack mining company was organized in January, 1882, 
for the purpose of developing a property adjoining the world’s greatest 
copper mine. The mine has now been an active property seventeen 
years and, like most mining ventures, passed through periods of gloom. 
But it has paid to its stockholders an aggregate of $5,670,000 in divi- 



86 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


dends, and with the completion, about two years hence, of the develop¬ 
ments now under way the Tamarack should, at the very least, double 
its present value. 

Shaft No. 1 was commenced in February, 1882, and in June, 1885, 
more than three years later, the company was rewarded for its outlay 
by reaching the Calumet & Hecla conglomerate belt at a depth of 
2,270 feet. Success crowned a wonderful feat of mining and the future 
of the Tamarack was thereby securely established. This shaft has a 
present depth of 3,240 feet, which is the maximum, as it would be im¬ 
possible to sink further at this point without encroaching upon the 
territory of the Calumet & Hecla adjoining. The sinking of this 
shaft revealed a lode with a dip of 37i degrees and varying in width 
from 10 to 24 feet. When the formation was encountered at No. 1 
shaft, preparations for the sinking of No. 2 were in order, and.in 
March, 1886, it was started at a point 600 feet north. The lode was 
cut at a depth of 2,575 feet. This shaft had a depth, January 1, 1899, 
of 3,866 feet, and is equipped with a direct-acting double hoist, 24"x48" 
cylinders, the drum having a 10-foot face and being 36 feet in diameter. 
Each shaft has two hoists, the auxiliary being used for lowering em¬ 
ployees, timber, tools, etc. 

No. 3 shaft is north of No. 2 about 4,200 feet. It reached the lode 
August 5, 1894, at a depth of 4,185 feet. The ground encountered was 
not rich, but since then it has been the mine’s most valuable source 
of production, and in addition to this gives promise of a most encour¬ 
aging future. No. 4 shaft is located 700 feet north of No. 3, and at a 
depth of 4,550 feet reached the conglomerate lode January 9, 1895. 
The lode has not been found rich at this point, yet the hope is enter¬ 
tained that it will be found better to the north. 

What gives every promise of becoming one of the greatest copper 
producing shafts in the world is the mammoth No. 5 shaft, being sunk 
at a point 3,300 feet south of No. 4, and which was started in Sep¬ 
tember, 1895. That this shaft will become a great producer i§ con¬ 
ceded by every one familiar with its location. In the extreme north 
and south of the Calumet & Hecla and Tamarack the conglomerate is 
rather barren of copper, while No. 5 shaft is in the center of what is 
known as the highest mineralized formation, as evidenced by all the 
ground opened up by the Calumet & Hecla. Since reaching a depth 
below the water line this shaft has been extended at a rate of about 
1,000 feet a year. The location of the shaft is in a cedar swamp, 
and in the early sinking much inconvenience was met with from the 
inflow of surface water. A rather singular fact in this connection is 
that since passing a depth of 1,000 feet the surface water has ceased to 
be a source of annoyance. It is expected that this shaft will encoun¬ 
ter the lode at a depth of 4,580 feet. Its depth January first of this 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


87 


year was 3,000 feet, and sinking is being pushed at the rate of 1,000 
feet per year. At the five Revels above the bottom plats will be cut 
and preparations made to extend the drifts, but the wealth of min¬ 
eral tributary to this shaft will scarcely be reached earlier than Sep¬ 
tember, 1900, by which time the shaft will be fully equipped. It is 
unlikely, however, that No. 5 shaft will be furnishing rock commen¬ 
surate with its wonderful resources until well along in the year 1901. 
This shaft contains five compartments, each five feet four inches by 
seven feet two inches within timbers, of which four are skip ways, 
and one a pipe and ladder way. This shaft is directed to the same 
copper course as that being wrought at No. 4 shaft of the Calumet & 
Hecla, and which is a continuation of the lode cut by the wonderful 
Red Jacket shaft of the Calumet & Hecla at a depth of about 4,500 
feet. The equipment at No. 5 shaft will include the biggest drum 
winding hoist in the world. There will be four engines with cylin¬ 
ders 44"x84", one of which will be located at each end of the massive 
frame. The face of the drum is 25 feet and it will hold 6,500 feet of 
li-inch rope. The machinery is being installed in a fine building of 
sandstone, on the most substantial foundations that can be devised. 
Nos. 1, 2 and 3 shafts are permanently equipped. At No. 3 shaft a 
compressor building of red sandstone contains a compressor capable 
of supplying power to 80 drills. 

The Tamarack has a vast territory on both the dip and strike of 
the lode and in depth it can be wrought as far as atmospheric condi¬ 
tions will permit. The Osceola lode is intersected by cross-cuts from 
Nos. 1 and 2 shafts and production goes on from this source. The 
month of May of this year will witness the starting of the company’s 
pumping station, located on the shore of Lake Superior, five miles 
distant from No. 1 shaft. The plant is undoubtedly the finest in the 
copper district, and insures the Tamarack and Osceola mines, as well 
as the villages in which they are located, an ample supply of water 
for all time to come. Work on this project began in September, 1898, 
since which date the pipe connections have been laid and securely 
covered. At the lake a shaft was sunk forty feet and from the bottom an 
adit was extended through the sandstone formation under Lake Su¬ 
perior for a distance of 480 feet, at which point the bed of the lake 
was broken into February 17, 1899. The pumping plant will have a 
capacity of 1,500,000 gallons every 24 hours. The mills of the Tamar¬ 
ack mine are located on the shore of Torch Lake, six miles distant, 
and railroad facilities are furnished by the Hancock & Calumet rail¬ 
road. The two mills contain seven stamps, which have a present 
daily capacity of about 2,400 tons of rock. Some improvements at the 
old mill, which contains five heads, are under way and when com¬ 
pleted it is expected the combined capacity of both mills will be iu- 


88 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


creased to 3,000 tons daily. In addition to a full quota of mine build¬ 
ings, the company owns 295 dwellings, provided for the accommoda¬ 
tion of its employees, which are well and comfortably constructed and 
rented at a very reasonable rate. The company’s coal dock is at Dol¬ 
lar Bay, where, with the Osceola company, it erected a mammoth 
steel coal shed a few years ago. The capacity of the shed proper is 
50,000 tons, with additional outside storage of 50,000 tons more. It is 
equipped with modern hoisting apparatus which reduces the cost of 
handling to a minimum. 

No. 3 shaft has 12 levels now opened up, with comparatively little 
ground exhausted in any of them, and at the present rate of open¬ 
ing this reserve can be maintained for many years to come. Ho. 2 
shaft shows eight levels well preserved, so that in point of available 
supply of stoping ground the mine is in a better position today than 
at any previous time in its history. 

Following is a summary of operations for the year 1898: 


Tons of rock hoisted. 

Tons of rock stamped.... 
Mineral obtained, pounds 

Cost per ton mined. 

Cost per ton stamped. 

Cost stamping per ton.... 


812,983 

670,832 

31,127,623 

$ 1.66 

2.01 


4 ° 2 

22 Uoo cents 


ASSETS AND LIABILITIES DECEMBER 31, 1898. 


Cash in banks, copper on hand.$ 334,911 

Accounts receivable and Calumet & Hecla Rail¬ 
road bonds. 172,290 

250 shares Hancock & Calumet Railroad stock.... 25,000 

Cash and accounts at mine. 125,410 

Supplies on hand. 205,162 

Wood and timber lands. 297,989 

Lake Superior Smelting Co. stock . 132,000 


$1,292,762 


Accounts payable at mine.$ 185,735 

Accounts payable at Boston. 213,311 

$ 399,046 


$2,381,388 

1,862,507 

518,881 

480,000 

38,881 

893,717 


Received for copper (1898) 

Total costs. 

Mining profit. 

Dividends. 

Surplus. 

Balance of assets. 


The Tamarack Mining Company was organized January 13, 1882. 
The capitalization is $1,500,000, of which $780,000 has been called in. 





























PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


89 


The number of shares is 60,000 of a par value of $25 each. The total 
dividends paid to date—as already stated—amount to $5,670,000. The 
officers of the company, with headquarters at Boston, are Albert S. 
Bigelow, president, and W. J. Ladd, secretary and treasurer. The 
mine officers are, William E. Parnall, superintendent; R. M. Edwards, 
mining engineer; John T. Reeder, clerk; Thomas Maslin, mining cap¬ 
tain; Charles H. Krause, mill superintendent. 


Quincy mining Company. 

The Quincy stands today at the head of the producing amygdaloid 
mines of Houghton county, a position it has maintained for many 
years, and with the many improvements under way at present, having 
a view to increased production, it is doubtful if it will ever lose its ac¬ 
quired position among the mines developed on amygdaloid lodes. 
Territorial expansion and increased resources has been the motto of 
the owners of this splendid property, and this in brief has been the 
main cause of the continued prosperity of the Quincy. 

The company was organized in 1848 under a special charter granted 
by the legislature, with a capital stock of $200,000, divided into 20,000 
shares. It then possessed 627 acres of mineral land, while today it 
has 2,900 acres, insuring the mine a lease of life probably second to 
none on the copper range. The Quincy mine is located in town 
55 north of range 34 west, which is directly north of the village 
of Hancock. The company enjoys the enviable distinction of never 
having called an assessment. 

The history of the Quincy dates practically from 1856, when the 
Pewabic lode was discovered; since which year operations have been 
conducted on this vein. Four years later the mine began to be work¬ 
ed at a profit, and has been a dividend-earner ever since. The original 
charter expired in March, 1878, when a new company was formed, with 
40,000 shares at a par value of $25 a share. *It was not, however, until 
the present local management took charge that the Quincy assumed 
the proud position it now holds among the copper mines of the Lake 



90 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


Superior region. Its first acquisition of additional territory was made 
through the purchase by the company of the Pewabic mine, this 
bringing the Quincy territory up to the south boundary of the Frank¬ 
lin. The negotiation for this deal was opened March 30, 1891, and the 
property was bought for $720,000. The next purchase was a large acre¬ 
age of mineral land lying to the west of and adjoining the Quincy 
mine, which was bought from the Canal Company. The latest move 
in the direction of expansion was in 1897, when the Quincy Company 
bought the Mesnard and Pontiac properties, the price paid being 
$38,560. The Pewabic lode traverses the Quincy property fora dis¬ 
tance of about two and one-half miles. Its course is north 33 degrees 
and 32 minutes east. The peculiar changes that have ever character¬ 
ized the working of the Pewabic lode have been many, and no matter 
how unfavorable it might have looked at times, it has always been 
found to recover its productiveness as the work has been pushed, so 
that after fifty years’ of operation confidence in the lode has been 
thoroughly established, and though there is occasional anxiety there 
is never the slightest discouragement. The dip of the lode at surface 
is about 54 degrees. 

At present three shafts are in commission, of which No. 4, the 
most southerly, has been sunk to the fifty-first level, having reached a 
depth of 4,230 feet. Situated 600 feet north of this shaft is No. 2, 
which has reached the fifty-third level and has a depth of 4,440 feet. 
No. 6 shaft, known as the “North Quincy,” is located 1,900 feet north 
of No. 2, and has been sunk to the fiftieth level, a depth of 4,270 feet. 
The vertical depth of No. 2 shaft is 3,491 feet below the collar of the 
shaft, or 2,938 feet below the water level of Portage Lake. These 
shafts are 8x18 feet and contain two skip roads and a ladder way. Six 
9-ton skips are in use. The hoisting machinery is of the latest and most 
improved pattern, capable of handling the heaviest loads in the most 
expeditious manner, while the rock houses are models of convenience. 
No. 6 shaft is equipped with a direct acting hoist with 40''x84' / cylin¬ 
ders, 21 foot drum of 13£ foot face. The capacity of the drum is 7,000 
feet of If inch rope. The machinery at No. 2 shaft consists of a direct 
hoist, cylinders 48"x 84", diameter 26 feet. The winding surface of the 
drum is 13 feet 2 inches and the length over all 15 feet 6 inches. This 
splendid piece of machinery is capable of hoisting from a depth of 
7,500 feet, or nearly a mile and a half. 

An important move now under way in the direction of increased 
production is the sinking of the new No. 7 shaft, which was com¬ 
menced in December, 1897, and is expected to become a producer about 
Jan. 1 of the coming year. This shaft, which will be of the same 
dimensions as the others, is located 876 feet south of No. 4. In extend¬ 
ing this shaft a new departure was made. Instead of confining the 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


91 


work to sinking from surface it is also being carried on by forces work¬ 
ing in the south levels which have reached the line of the shaft. In 
this way the work is being greatly facilitated, and the record last 
year, of sinking 2,560 feet in this shaft, stands without parallel in the 
annals of copper mining. This shaft is to be sunk to a depth of about 
4,000 feet. The total length of the shafts, winzes and levels in the 
Quincy aggregates more than forty miles. 

The Quincy mine rock differs from the ashbeds, where the entire 
vein matter is sent to the stamp mill. Here much poor rock is stored 
away under ground. The ascending skips dump their contents of 
rock on the screens in the shaft houses, when the fine portion passes 
through into bins, whence it is sent to the mill, while the heavier por¬ 
tion of the productive rock is selected and crushed and then forwarded 
to the stamp mill. The Quincy stamp mill is located on the west 
shore of Torch Lake, and is connected with the mine by the Quincy 
and Torch Lake railway, a property owned and operated by the Quincy 
Mining company. The road is equipped with three Brooks mogul 
engines and a full complement of rolling stock for all purposes. 
At the stamp mill there are five Allis heads, all with 20" cylin¬ 
ders, capable of treating from 1,800 to 2,000 tons of rock every 
twenty-four hours, which is about the present output of the mine. 
The stamp mill is most pleasantly situated, and the broad expanse of 
water extending from its site will furnish sand room during the life of 
the mine, or for generations yet to come. Six hundred feet north of 
the present mill the company is now engaged in the construc¬ 
tion of another mill which will contain three stamps—and others will 
be added in the near future. The new mill will, it is expected, go into 
commission with the opening of the coming year, when production 
from No. 7 shaft will begin. The development work now going on at 
the Quincy fully warrants the belief that when the new mill goes into 
commission the supply of rock will keep all three stamps in constant 
operation and the monthly product of the mine will be between 1,200 
and 1,300 tons of mineral. The company realizes considerable from 
the sale of silver, a small part of which is saved in the stamp mill by 
boys employed for that purpose, and the rest by electrolytic treatment. 
The receipts from this source in 1897 amounted to $18,024.95. The 
company owns 210 dwellings at the mine and 28 at the stamp 
mill. The surface equipment, such as blacksmith, machine and 
carpenter shops, is fully up to the modern standard in construction 
and appliances, and ample for all requirements, while the office, built 
of Portage Entry red stone, is probably not excelled for completeness of 
appointments and convenience of arrangement by that of any mining 
company in the world. 

kast summer the Quincy company erected a smelting plant on the 


02 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


water frontage at Portage Lake, on property acquired from the 
Pewabic. The smelters are admirably situated, being provided with 
both rail and lake facilities and every arrangement tending toward 
economy. The buildings are of Portage Entry red stone. In the 
main building are four furnaces, each capable of smelting twenty 
tons of copper per day. Two of these furnaces went into commission 
on December 1, 1898, and each is now treating about 18 tons of copper 
daily. Three of these furnaces are in condition for immediate service, 
while the fourth can be got . in shape in a brief time when it becomes 
necessary. Additional furnaces will be erected when warranted by in¬ 
creased business. The building of this smelter was a move in the di¬ 
rection of economy, and it has resulted in a saving, after taking into 
consideration the capital invested and the large amount of wear and 
tear attending such a plant, of fully two dollars per ton, or about $20,- 
000 a year. 

For the year 1898 the mine produced 20,056,942 pounds of mineral, 
which yielded 16,362,370 pounds of refined copper. The average num¬ 
ber of men employed in 1898 was 1,222, during which period the aver¬ 
age pay of miners was 82.10 net per day. The total quantity of rock 
mined in 1898 was 573,443 tons, of which 555,476 tons were hoisted to 
surface, and 543,942 tons sent to the stamp mill for treatment. The 
yield of mineral per fathom of ground broken was 629 pounds and the 
yield of refined copper 513 pounds. The mineral gave 81.57 per cent 
ingot copper. The percentage of mineral in the rock stamped was 1.35. 
The number of tons of rock stamped per head in 24 hours actual run¬ 
ning time was 376, and the cost per ton of rock stamped, including 
pumping, repairs and all other expenses, was 22.28 cents. 

From the time of its organization to December 31, 1898, the total 
expenditures by the company amounted to $24,723,220; total receipts 
were $36,072,495, dividends paid, $10,120,000. Negotiations are now 
pending for three heads of stamps, also for a sixteen million-gallon 
pumping engine. A new air compressor of the most modern type and 
* of sixty-drill capacity was contracted for March 1st of this year, with 
the Rand Drill Company of New York. 

During 1898, No. 2 shaft was sunk from thirty feet below the fifty- 
first level to the sole of the fifty-third level. No. 4 shaft was sunk 
from 86 feet below the forty-ninth level to the fifty-first level, and No. 
6 from 28 feet below the forty-ninth level to 30 feet below the fifty- 
first level. The latter shaft, at bottom, is now about 65 feet east of 
the main lode. The total depths of shafts sunk was 553 feet. The ag¬ 
gregate drifting was 11,512 feet. The drifting at No. 2 shaft was at 
the fifty-second, fifty-first, fiftieth and forty-ninth levels, north and 
south. The vein shown in these openings is mostly of fair average 
size and good quality. The drifting done from No. 4 shaft was at 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


93 


the fifty-first, fiftieth, forty-ninth, forty-eighth and forty-seventh 
levels south, and at the forty-first, south, on the hanging branch. The 
southern parts of these openings, especially those in the vicinity of 
No. 7 shaft, have improved very much of late, the vein being mostly of 
good size and promising character, exposing long stretches of stoping 
ground. The drifting done from No. 6 shaft was at the fifty-first, 
fiftieth and forty-ninth levels, north and south, and at the forty-eighth, 
forty-seventh, forty-sixth, forty-fifth and forty-fourth levels north. 

The capital stock of the company is #2,500,000, in 100,000 shares of $25 
each, fully paid and unassessable. Assets January 1,1899, $1,229,275.15. 
The officers of the company, with headquarters in New York, are: 
Thomas F. Mason, president; T. Henry Mason, vice-president; and 
William R. Todd, secretary and treasurer. The mine officials are Sam¬ 
uel B. Harris, superintendent; John L. Harris, mining engineer; E. D. 
Johnson, clerk; Thomas Whittle, mining captain; George Bedell, mill 
superintendent. James R. Cooper is superintendent of the company’s 
smelters. 


Osceola Consolidated mining Company* 

The organization of this company was perfected in 1873, when 
mining was commenced on a discovery of conglomerate which was re¬ 
garded as different from the Calumet & Hecla vein. 

The company began operations with an ample mining equipment, 
but after a few years’ work the north ground, which proved to be a 
continuation of that of the Calumet & Hecla, was well nigh exhaust¬ 
ed, while the ground south proved all but worthless. The company 
then realized that future success depended upon the development of 
other lodes on the property. Accordingly, explorations were be¬ 
gun and in 1877 the Osceola amygdaloid lode was located some 800 feet 
east of the Calumet conglomerate. The history of the Osceola mine 
really dates from this period, and after twenty-two years of successful 
operation it occupies a position today among the greatest copper pro¬ 
ducers in the district, a position that it will shortly strengthen, to 
maintain, in all likelihood, for a generation to come. 

The Osceola lode is one of best amygdaloid formations traversing 
the copper range. It traverses the Osceola property for a distance of 



94 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR, 


6,200 feet, dipping at an angle of 40 degrees. The lode varies in width 
from 6 to 30 feet. It is broken, contorted and bunchy. Bars of trap 
rock frequently occur; and, as in all amygdaloid lodes, barren ground 
intervenes between the productive stretches. 

The company is operating four shafts on this lode, of which No. 3 ? 
the most northerly, has attained a depth of 3,000 feet. No. 3 is a two- 
compartment shaft, 6x6 feet inside timbers, and contains one skip way 
and a man-car hoist. It is equipped with a permanent hoisting plant 
capable of working to a depth of 3,800 feet. The shaft can be extend¬ 
ed to a depth of 3,800 feet within the company’s lines. South of No. 
3 a distance of 600 feet is shaft No. 4, which has attained a depth of 
3,600 feet. Many improvements have been made at No. 5 shaft of late 
which will result in a larger output from this source. It was cut 
down from surface, thus adding another skip way, and when the new 
machinery goes into service, which will be in a very short time, the 
small skips will be succeeded by new ones of six-ton capacity. This 
shaft has attained a depth of 3,600 feet, and is located 1,300 feet south 
of No. 4. 

What is conceded to be one of the finest shafts ever sunk in the cop¬ 
per district is the new No. 6 shaft at this mine, which will add 
largely to the company’s production. No. 6 is the most southerly 
shaft on the property, and is distant from No. 5 1,350 feet. No. 6 is 
3,400 feet in depth, and, like No. 5, can be extended to a depth of 6,500 
feet. In size it is 18.6x7 feet inside timbers, and it contains two 
skip ways and a pipe and ladder way. In point of equipment the shaft 
is excelled nowhere, and the fact that since the hoist was installed no 
less than four of the same pattern have been ordered by this company 
speaks volumes for its capabilities. It consists of a pair of engines of 
the horizontal type, 32"x72", with a drum tapering from 12' 6" at the 
end to 18' 6" upon the straight portion. The possibilities of this shaft, 
with its levels fully opened up, may be judged of from the fact that 
it is being equipped with machinery to handle 3,000 tons of rock 
every 24 hours. It is not believed, however, that the resources of No. 
6 will ever be pushed to that, or anything near that, limit. The general 
equipment of this shaft is in keeping with that already described. The 
shaft rock house is modernly equipped and is rendering excellent ser¬ 
vice, and the machinery is installed in a fine building of sandstone. A 
virgin territory south of No. 6, 1,750 feet in length, is tributary to this 
shaft and results thus far obtained indicate that it will furnish a uni¬ 
form and satisfactory production. The new hoist being installed at 
No. 5 shaft is a duplicate of that above described. 

The consolidation of the Osceola with the Kearsarge and Tama¬ 
rack Junior properties was effected October 26, 1897. Under the plan 
of consolidation, the Osceola capital stock was increased from 50,000 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


95 


to 100,000 shares, of the par value of $25 each. Of this stock 25,000 
shares went for the purchase of the Kearsarge, 16,000 for the Tamar¬ 
ack Junior, and 9,000 were allowed to remain in the treasury for sub¬ 
sequent disposal by the directors, the treasury to receive the final pro¬ 
ceeds. The amalgamation of this group also included the Iroquois 
property, and gave a combined area of mineral lands of about 2,000 
acres, of which the Osceola furnished 760, Tamarack Junior 120 and 
the Kearsarge 1,120. The Osceola is south and the Tamarack Junior 
north of the Calumet & Hecla, while the Kearsarge is north of the 
Wolverine. 

Operations at the Kearsarge are confined to the Kearsarge lode, 
the same as is being operated at the Wolverine. The proportion of 
copper in its mineral runs about 86 per cent. The underground work¬ 
ings of the Wolverine and Kearsarge are connected at several levels, 
this adding to the ventilation and safety of both. At present but 
one shaft, with a single skip way, is producing from this large territory. 
This shaft has attained a depth of 2,100 feet and can be extended to a 
maximum depth of 7,000 feet. The sinking of a three-compartment 
shaft on the Kearsarge property is under way. This shaft will have 
tributary to it a large territory and should go into commission about 
two years hence. Its present depth is 350 feet. The Kearsarge lode 
traverses the property for a distance of 6,200 feet. The mine is fully 
equipped for present needs and when thoroughly developed will add 
materially to the company’s production of copper. The dip of the 
lode is 42 degrees. 

The three forties comprising the Tamarack Junior branch of this 
mine are operated on the Calumet & Hecla conglomerate belt. Nos. 
1 and 2 shafts are in operation, the former at a depth of 2,600 feet and 
the latter 3,200 feet. These shafts can be extended to far greater 
depths and promise a good and satisfactory yield covering an extended 
future. The lode traverses the property for a distance of 2,400 feet 
and dips at an angle of 37i degrees. A drawback to this company for 
some time has been a lack of milling facilities, and to overcome it a 
splendid three head stamp mill was recently erected and the ma¬ 
chinery is now being installed. The building is 215 x 138 feet, of struc¬ 
tural steel lined inside with wood and outside with corrugated iron. 
The foundations of red sandstone are built upon solid rock, thus insur¬ 
ing the most perfect stability. Under the direction of the mine and 
mill superintendents, much experimenting has been conducted of late, 
with a view to obtaining greater mill results. As a consequence some 
changes are being made in the new machinery being installed. The 
stamps will be circular in form and will have upright screens of 9-16 
inch perforation, instead of 3-16 inch, as are generally in use. The in¬ 
creased perforation allows the copper to be released before it is too 


96 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


small, and after it leaves the stamp it is received by a discharge which 
retains the heavier copper and rock. Later the copper is caught in a 
revolving screen having i inch holes and only the copper passing 
through these holes finds its way to the jigs. It is estimated 
that not more than 30 per cent of the former amount of slime will go 
from these stamps. The jigs are of an improved pattern and were 
built by the Portage Lake Foundry and Machinery Company. The 
new mill will likely go into commission during June of the current 
year, and is expected to be able to treat 1,500 tons of rock every twen¬ 
ty-four hours. The improvements at the new mill are also being 
duplicated at the old one, which contains six stamps, and when these 
are finished and both mills are treating rock they will have a com¬ 
bined capacity of not less than 3,500 tons every twenty-four hours. 

A new pumping plant for the Tamarack-Osceola mills is fast 
nearing completion. Water is secured from Torch Lake through an 
adit extended underneath and will be sent to the mills by a powerful 
pump, having a capacity of 40,000,000 gallons every twenty-four hours. 
The building in which this machinery is installed is of structural 
steel, 35x70 feet, covered with corrugated iron and erected on a stone 
foundation. In addition to the large number of mine buildings, the 
company owns 200 dwellings. 

Last year No. 6 shaft at the Osceola branch was sunk 242 feet. 
Winzes amounted to 166 feet. There was 2,903 feet of drifting done on 
the lode north and south of Nos. 4 and 5 shafts, from the thirty-fourth 
to thirty-sixth levels, inclusive, and 4,520 feet were drifted north and 
south of No. 6 shaft, from the second to thirty-third level, inclusive; 
total drifting on the lode of 7,427 feet. At the Kearsarge there is 
nearly a mile of unexplored territory north of the new No. 3 shaft. 
The sinking of No. 3 will be accomplished as quickly as possible, when 
the value of this property will be proven. The openings by winzes and 
raises last year amounted to 231 feet; cross-cutting, 95 feet; and drift¬ 
ing on the lode on the twelfth, fourteenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, 
twentieth and twenty-first levels, 2,552 feet. Last year No. 2 shaft at 
the Tamarack Junior branch was sunk 82 feet. This shaft is now at 
the twelfth level and is connected with the lode by 184 feet of cross¬ 
cuts. Drifting on the lode on the first, seventh, eleventh and twelfth 
levels amounted to 862 feet. The total opening work in the three 
branches, exclusive of the 1,544 feet for pillars at the Osceola branch, 
is 13,083 feet. The company’s report for the year ending December 31, 
1898, gives the following information: 



photocraphed by a. F. isler, UNDERGROUND MINING SCENE, OSCEOLA MINE. 

LAKE LINDEN. 
















PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


97 


Gross receipts. .$ 1,549,820 

Total costs. 1,178,028 

Net income. 371,791 

Dividends. 277,250 

Surplus. . 94,541 

Balance of assets Dec. 31, 1898. 665,333 


Rock mined, tons. 

Rock stamped, tons. 

Mineral obtained, pounds. 

Cost of stamping, per ton. 

ASSETS AND LIABILITIES ARE: 

Cash and copper on hand. 

Accounts receivable. 

Cash and accounts receivable at mine. 

Supplies at mine. 

Wood and timber lands.... 

Hancock & Calumet Railroad stock . 

Lake Superior Smelting Co. stock. 

Total.. 


637,003 

505,008 

15,848,928 


94 

28 — cents 


415,112 

82,802 

34,009 

120,055 

49,340 

76,000 

60,000 

836,319 


Accounts payable at mine.$ 116,092 

Accounts payable at Boston. 34,893 

Balance of assets.. . 655,333 


The increase of about three cents per ton in the cost of stamping 
was caused principally by the fact that for nearly six months the 
coal used at the mill was what was saved from the Are at the Dollar 
Bay coal shed and was much reduced in steaming quality. 

The company was organized in 1873; its capital is $2,500,000, all of 
which is called in. The number of shares is 100,000 and the par value 
825 each. Total dividends paid amount to $2,536,500. 

The general offices of the company are in Boston. Albert IS. Bige¬ 
low is president, and William J. Ladd, secretary and treasurer. The 
mine officials are: William E. Parnall, superintendent; William Yeal, 
clerk; R. M. Edwards, mining engineer; W. C. Watson, assistant su¬ 
perintendent; J. P. Richards, J. D. Hosking and William Daniells, 
mining captains; Charles H. Krause, mill superintendent. 


Cbe ttlolverine. 

The Wolverine is the latest property to take a place among the 
dividend paying copper mines of the Lake district, and is today a 
splendid money earner on the capital invested in it. Its estate com¬ 
prises 320 acres of land, of which, however, the company owns the min- 






























98 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


eral right of 280 acres and only the surface right of the other 40. 
The property joins the Centennial on the east and the Kearsarge 
branch of the’Osceola Consolidated tract on the south. 

Work was commenced on this property in September, 1881. In 
1890 the mine passed into the hands of its present owners, since 
which time its development has been rapid and the results achieved 
fully up to their most sanguine expectations. The source of pro¬ 
duction is confined wholly to the Kearsarge amygdaloid lode, which 
traverses the property for a distance of 3,000 feet. Other belts cross¬ 
ing the Wolverine are the Osceola amygdaloid and Kearsarge conglom¬ 
erate. The Kearsarge amygdaloid is bunchy in character, containing 
long stretches of poor ground. On the other hand, it is very rich in 
copper in places, and on the whole the formation is uniform in strength 
and width. Its average width is fifteen feet, and the dip is 41 degrees. 
The mine is always kept opened well in advance, a condition necessary 
for the economic working of an amygdaloid lode, as it provides the 
opportunity to choose proper stoping ground. When the present com¬ 
pany began operating some nine years ago,Nos. 1 and 2 shafts had attain¬ 
ed depths of 400 and 500 feet respectively. No available ground was 
open, and after placing the equipment in working condition sinking 
and drifting was resumed at No. 2 shaft. No. 1 shaft, however, was 
started at a point too close to the north boundary of the property and 
for this reason has not been worked for years. No. 2 shaft is down to 
the fourteenth level, a depth of 1,300 feet, and is equipped with a 
hoist that will meet all future requirements. 

South of No" 2, a distance of 600 feet, is shaft No. 3, which is now 
being sunk to the fifteenth level, a depth of 1,400 feet. Nos. 3 and 
4 shafts are 8 x 17 feet within timbers. Each contains two skip ways and 
a ladder and pipe way. No. 3 shaft is supplied with a duplex hoist, which 
has fulfilled all requirements to date, but which will be replaced in 
June next by a 24"x 60" duplex direct hoist with 16-foot drum, which 
will wind 4,000 feet of rope. The new hoist will be capable of working 
to a depth greater than 4,000 feet. No. 4 shaft is located 1,385 feet 
south of No. 3. It was started in November, 1895, and its present 
depth—below the tenth level—is 1,050 feet. No. 4 shaft is fully 
equipped for all future requirements, its machinery consisting of a 
24"x 48" duplex hoist with a 12-foot drum. Nos. 2 and 3 shafts are 
connected at the fourteenth level. Nos. 3 and 4 shafts are connected 
at every level to the tenth, inclusive, excepting the third. All the 
shafts on the property can be sunk to much greater depths, and by the 
purchase in July, 1898, of 80 acres of land into which the Kearsarge lode 
dips, the company added a long lease of life to its available mineral 
ground. The new Rand compressor doing service is a compound air 
and compound steam machine, capable of supplying power to 30 drills. 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


99 


In addition to this, the company has a duplex compressor, 16P'x30", 
which is held in reserve as an auxiliary. A new engine house and 
boiler house will be erected at No. 3 shaft within the next few months. 
The stamp mill contains one stamp of the Ball pattern, capable of treat¬ 
ing 300 tons of rock every 24 hours. In addition to this the company 
has a lease of one head of about similar capacity at the Allouez mill. 
It is more than probable that the erection of a new and modern 
stamp mill will receive the attention of this company in the not 
distant future. The present mineral production, monthly, of about 
218 tons, is easily maintained and could probably be considerably in¬ 
creased were more stamping facilities provided. 

The mineral yields 87 per cent refined copper, and in this respect 
the mine is not excelled by any in the district. The mine employs 305 
men. During the year ending .Tune 30, 1898, 167,568 tons of rock were 
hoisted, of which 130,089 tons were sent to the mill for treatment and 
the balance discarded. The production of mineral for this period was 
3,949,045 pounds, which yielded 3,470,927 pounds of refined copper. 
Two stamps were in commission, the second one, however, running 
but six months. This shows the percentage of stamp rock in rock 
hoisted to be 77.633; percentage of mineral in rock hoisted, 1.178; per¬ 
centage of mineral in rock stamped, 1.517; and percentage of refined 
copper in rock stamped, 1.334. 

The Wolverine has developed a remarkable wealth of copper 
ground, and the increase in its value during the past year has been en¬ 
tirely consistent, both from the point of production and ability to 
•earn returns on the investment. 

The Wolverine Copper Mining Company was organized August 2, 
1890, with a capital of $1,500,000, divided into 60,000 shares of a par 
value of $25 each. Of the capital, $480,000 has been paid in. The com¬ 
pany paid its first dividend, amounting to $60,000, last year, while its 
last report shows assets amounting to $218,784.73. The eastern office 
of the company is in New York. John Stanton is president; J. R. 
Stanton, secretary and treasurer. The mine officers are, Fred Smith, 
agent; Charles L. Noetzel, clerk; John Nichols, mining captain; Bar¬ 
nett Shearer, superintendent of machinery. 


Cbe Tratiklim 

Forty-two years ago the Franklin Mining company began opera¬ 
tions on the 160 acres of mineral land comprising the southwest quar¬ 
ter of section 24, town 55, range 34. The old Franklin mine is fast 



100 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


reaching the end of its career and interest in the company’s mining 
operations, present and future, is rather confined to the Franklin 
Junior. The old Franklin was worked continuously by the company 
since 1857, excepting the period from 1870 to 1874, when it was in the 
hands of tributors. 

The property is traversed for its entire length by the Pewabic lode, 
which has a dip of 52£ degrees, an average width of eleven feet, and a 
surface length of 3,750 feet. The lode territory was exhausted some 
time ago, with the exception of a portion at the north end of the prop¬ 
erty, which, at the present rate of ground broken, should offer a field 
for operations for three years to come. The north end of the Franklin 
will probably show a higher percentage of copper than the mine has 
yielded for years past, as the ground opened there shows more than 
average richness. During the past seven years production has been se¬ 
cured from two shafts—Nos. 3 and 5. No. 3 is down to the 32nd level, a 
depth of 2,800 feet, and No. 5 to the 38th level, a depth of 3,200 feet. 
The machinery at these shafts is of an old pattern, but meets all require¬ 
ments and is capable of rendering service during the life of the mine. 
At present there is no production, owing to the destruction of the com¬ 
pany’s stamp mill by fire November 26, 1898. Work will be resumed in 
June, when the new mill is expected to start up. With the mineral 
entirely exhausted, the old Franklin'property will still have considerable 
value, owing to its location. It may be useful to owners of adjoining 
properties. To date, the Franklin mine has produced 96,076,155 pounds 
of refined copper. 

By the purchase in 1894 of what is now known as the Franklin 
Junior property, the company secured a new and greatly extended lease 
of life. The property comprises 1,360 acres situated in sections 7,8 and 
9, town 55, range 33, and stretches across the mineral range for a dis¬ 
tance of two and one-half miles. It was once known as the Albany & 
Boston and later as the Peninsula. Mining operations are at present 
confined to the Pewabic lode, which is the most westerly on the prop¬ 
erty. In order, 475 feet east of this lode, is the Allouez conglomerate, 
and east of the latter, 1,420 feet, the Calumet conglomerate. The Osce¬ 
ola amygdaloid is 605 feet east of the Calumet conglomerate, and 2,000 
feet east of the Osceola is the Kearsarge amygdaloid bed. Work on 
the Pewabic lode can be conducted to depths ranging from 3,000 to 
9,000 feet, according to the location of shafts, while on all other lodes 
much greater depths can be attained without going off the property. 
The dip of the lode is 48£ degrees. Extensive explorations had been 
conducted up to a year ago on the Osceola, Kearsarge, Calumet and 
Pewabic lodes. It having been demonstrated that the Pewabic lode 
can be profitably worked, the company was reorganized in April, 1898, 
since which time the development of this copper belt has been pushed 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


101 


with all possible dispatch, and it is now opened by four shafts. Of 
these the “North” shaft was commenced during October, 1898. It is 
located 900 feet south of the company’s north boundary line and has a 
depth of 150 feet. “North” shaft will be opened from the bottom as 
well as from the top, and will probably be completed to the eighth level 
during the summer of 1899. 

This shaft has been found to be well charged, from surface to its pres¬ 
ent depth, with good stamp rock and heavy barrel work, pieces of the 
latter being broken out every day. A “rise” coming up from the sixth 
level is also showing a very good copper-bearing lode and every indica¬ 
tion points to the shaft becoming a profitable one. “North” shaft is 
22 x 8 feet, and contains two skip tracks. The dimensions of shafts 
Nos. 2 and 3 are similar, while those of No. 1 shaft, which has a single 
skip road, are 8x12 feet. Nine hundred feet south of “North” shaft 
is shaft No. 1, now 1,200 feet in depth, or to the twelfth level, where 
drifting north and south is under way. In this shaft the extent of 
opening is as follows: First level, 200 feet; fourth level, 800 feet; fifth 
level, 1,800 feet; sixth level, 900 feet; seventh level, 1,500 feet; eighth 
level, 1,000 feet; ninth level, 1,100 feet; tenth level, 800 feet; eleventh 
level, 400 feet; twelfth level, 100 feet. No. 1 will be connected with 
“North” shaft the coming summer at the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, 
and eighth levels. The lode at No. 1 shaft was found quite narrow at 
surface but increased gradually with new depths, and in many places it 
has widened out to ten feet. The product from this source thus far is 
stamp and barrel work. The openings are favorable and in some places 
quite rich. Shaft No. 2, located at a distance of 1,000 feet south of No. 1, 
is extended below the eighth level and has a present depth of about 
850 feet. It is connected with No. 1 at the fifth level. These shafts 
will be connected at the seventh level within a few months and at the 
eighth before the expiration of the current year. No. 2 has not thus far 
shown equal copper to No. 1 but the indications are very good and im¬ 
provement is looked for at lower depths. No. 3 shaft, which is located 
1,000 feet south of No. 2, was commenced less than a year ago and has a 
depth of 250 feet. A good lode is exposed. Nothing is being done at No. 
3 shaft at present, as ample ground is being opened at the north end 
of the mine, and this shaft can be sunk ahead of its requirements any 
time when wanted. “North” shaft has a temporary equipment. No. 
1 has a single hoist capable of working for many years; also a twenty- 
drill compressor, and a rock shaft house fully equipped and capable of 
handling 500 tons of rock per day. The boiler house contains five hori¬ 
zontal locomotive boilers capable of furnishing steam power to all 
parts of the mine except No. 2 shaft. At No. 2 shaft there is under 
construction a large rock house capable of handling 1,000 tons of rock 
per day. In addition to this, the boiler house, compressor house and 


102 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OP LAKE SUPERIOR. 


engine house have been completed and machinery is being installed as 
follows: A battery of Stirling water-tube boilers of 500 horse power, 
with a steam pressure of 150 pounds to the inch; an Ingersoll-Sergeant 
compound air and compound steam compressor of the most modern 
pattern, which will furnish air for thirty machines; one double direct 
acting Corliss hoisting engine built by the M. C. Bullock Manufactur¬ 
ing Company, with cylinders 24"x48" and a 12-foot drum, intended to 
work No. 2 shaft to a depth of 3,000 feet. 

The company’s new stamp mill is located at Grosse Point on Port¬ 
age Lake, nine miles from the Franklin Junior, and will be connected 
with the mine June 1, 1899, by railroad facilities furnished by the Min¬ 
eral Range railroad. The mill site comprises over 200 acres and has a 
mile of lake frontage; it is beautifully adapted for building purposes, 
and offers ample sand room for all time. The mill building is completed 
and the machinery is being installed. It is a steel structure and will 
contain four Allis heads, capable of treating 1,500 tons of rock every 24 
hours. It is expected that one head will go into commission June 1, 
and the mill will be working to its full capacity some time during the 
current year. Sufficient dwellings have been erected by the company 
to accommodate all of its employees. 

The Franklin Mining company was organized April 3, 1857. Its 
capital is $2,000,000, divided into 80,000 sharesof a par value of $25 each. 
It has paid in dividends SI,240,000. Up to April 20,1898, when the capi¬ 
talization was increased from $1,000,000 to its present figure, the 
amount called in was $320,000. The main office is in Boston. Thomas 
H. Perkins is president and D. L. Demmon secretary and treasurer. 
The mine officials are: Joshua Hosking, superintendent; Arno Jaeh- 
nig, clerk; Thomas Dennis, mining captain at the Franklin; Nicholas 
Clymo, mining captain at Franklin Junior; Edward Warne, mill su¬ 
perintendent. 


Htlantic mining Company* 

For a period of twenty-five years the Atlantic has held the distinc¬ 
tion of being the only active mining property on the south side of Port¬ 
age Lake. The company was organized in 1872, when the South Pe- 
wabic and Adams mining properties were consolidated and work on an 



PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


103 


enlarged scale was at once instituted. The failure of the South Pewa- 
bic and Adams to prove profitable prior to that date was largely due to 
the fact that not enough rock was mined to yield proper returns, as in 
the case of this lode it is imperatively essential to success that mining 
and treatment of the rock shall be conducted on a large scale, and with 
close attention to economy. 

The mineral lands embrace 1,280 acres, comprising the southwest 
quarter, the west half of the southeast quarter, and the northeast 
quarter of the southeast quarter of section 4; the north half of 
section 9; and the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter of 
section 10, in Adams township; and section 16 in Portage township, 
Houghton county. In January, 1898, the company purchased sections 
2, 3, 4 and 5, in town 53, range 35, on which it is hoped will be found 
a continuation of the • Baltic amygdaloid lode. The belt operated 
is known as the South Pewabic lode, which traverses the property for 
a distance of about 6,000 feet. The strike of the belt is north, 50 de¬ 
grees east; its dip is 54 degrees and the average width about 15 feet. 
In character it is an amygdaloid, locally termed an “ashbed”. The 
vein matter is chocolate brown in color, and through it the copper is 
quite uniformly disseminated. Every particle of the rock is sent to the 
stamp mill, as to select the mill rock would be impossible, owing to its 
low yield of mineral. The mining of this belt is comparatively simple 
and but little timbering is required. It is one of the most westerly on 
the copper range and is the nearest amygdaloid to the Quincy belt now 
being worked. The foot and hanging walls are trap rock. The 
shafts in commission are “A,” “B,” “D,” “E” and U F”. “A” shaft is 
a new one, started in the fall of 1897, to develop forty acres of land 
purchased a short time before, and is the most northerly at the mine. 
In size it is 9 x 20 feet and has three compartments. “A” shaft is now 
being sunk to the fourth level and drifts are being extended from the 
first, second and. third levels. The belt opens up very well in this 
shaft and gives every indication of yielding fully as well, at least, as in 
the older shafts at the mine. A new hoist was recently installed at 
this shaft. It was purchased from Eraser & Chalmers, of Chicago, and 
is a model piece of machinery. It consists of a pair of 26"x48" Corliss 
engines driving a drum 10 feet in diameter at the small ends and 15 
feet 6 inches in the center. It has capacity to lift a total load of nine 
tons from a depth of 2,000 feet with an incline of 55 degrees. The en¬ 
gines are arranged to be compounded later by adding two high-pressure 
cylinders, one on the rear of each cylinder now in place. When a 
greater depth is reached in the shaft these high-pressure cylinders will 
be added, thereby making the hoist more economical in the use of steam. 
This engine is operated by steam throughout, reversing links, brakes 
and throttle valves. The indicators are of the dial type, being ar- 


104 COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 

ranged with compensation device to give the indicator hand a variable 
speed, and keep it at a relative speed with the rope, a condition made 
necessary on account of the conical drum. 

At a distance 1,400 feet south of this shaft is shaft “B,” which is 
7x14 feet. It contains a double skip road and has been sunk to the 
twentieth level, a depth of 1,750 feet. In the way of machinery this 
shaft has a double-drum geared hoist, with a pair of 14"x20" engines 
capable of working to a depth of 150 feet below the point from which 
hoisting is now being done. This machinery will be replaced the cur¬ 
rent year by a hoist ordered in February from Fraser & Chalmers, of 
Chicago. The new hoist will consist of a pair of 24"x60" Corliss en¬ 
gines, driving a double-cone drum 12 feet in diameter at the ends and 
25 2-5 feet at the center. The designis almost identical with that of 
the hoist at “A” shaft. It is expected that this hoist will lift, with 
ease, a total of 11 tons from a depth of 4,000 feet. 

Located 1,465 feet south is “D” shaft, 9x18 feet, which contains 
three compartments, and has been sunk to the thirtieth level, a depth 
of 2,600 feet. It is equipped with a pair of 22"x60" engines, with a 
double conical drum 12 feet in diameter at the small end and 21 feet at 
the large end. This machinery is capable of working to a depth of 
3,000 feet. Located 478 feet south is U F” shaft, which is 9 x 12 feet in 
size'and contains a single skip way. It is sunk to the twenty-sixth lev¬ 
el, at which point the depth is 2,350 feet. In equipment “F” shaft 
has> geared hoist with single cylinder 24"x48" and cylindrical drum 12 
feet in diameter. The engine is capable of rendering service at this 
shaft for the next two years. No rock is hoisted from “E” shaft, 
which is used for the pumps and air pipe line and as a man-way. 

The aggregate of drifts in the mine is about twenty miles. When 
exploratory work was conducted in 1897, at what is now the Baltic 
mine, its possibilities attracted the attention of the Atlantic company, 
which owns section 16 adjoining, lying to the north, and in July of 
that year exploratory work was begun on that section with a view to 
locating the Baltic lode. A shaft was sunk to a depth of 60 feet and a 
cross-cut was extended easterly to locate the Baltic lode. This drift was 
driven to the Baltic boundary line by the Atlantic company. From that 
point it was continued into the Baltic property by the Baltic company. 
At present this drift is in trap rock, and nothing has been found 
that could be recognized as the Baltic lode; neither was there any con¬ 
glomerate encountered that would indicate the position of the drift 
with respect to the formation. The strike of the belts as found in this 
drift is much nearer north and south than that of the Baltic lode, 
which would rather indicate that the Baltic had been intersected in 
the drift, but the line of the conglomerate found in section 15 is still 
some distance beyond the end of the drift and this conglomerate has 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


105 


been recognized as the belt which underlies the Baltic vein and has 
been found on the Baltic property. Should this conglomerate be found 
within a reasonable distance from the end of the drift, it would indi¬ 
cate that the Baltic lode has been intersected. The Baltic lode be¬ 
ing the most easterly amygdaloid ever found to be productive, and the 
Atlantic being the most westerly, it is fair to assume that any belts 
lying between these formations would traverse section 16, or the Atlan¬ 
tic property on section 9. 

Exploratory work continues as usual at section 16. Several years 
ago a belt was discovered on section 9, east of the Atlantic, which is 
believed to be the Kearsarge amygdaloid, and this is likely to receive 
attention in the near future. 

The stamp mill is located on the shore of Lake Superior, nine 
miles distant from the mine, with which it is connected by a standard 
gauge road owned and operated by the Atlantic company. The rail¬ 
road has a full equipment of rolling-stock, including four Baldwin and 
one Brooks locomotives. 

The stamp mill went into commission in 1895. It is a frame build¬ 
ing, containing six heads of Ball stamps with 18" cylinders, on solid 
foundations, and capable of treating 1,800 tons of rock every 24 hours. 
The water used in the mill is delivered to it by gravity from a dam 
52 feet high erected in Salmon Trout river. The mill site is extensive, 
containing three miles of lake frontage, and additional stamps can be 
erected when necessary. 

The company’s coal docks and warehouses are located at Portage 
Lake, three and one-eight miles distant from the mine. These docks 
are also connected with the mine by rail facilities owned by the com¬ 
pany. 

In addition to the shaft and other buildings above referred to, the 
Atlantic Company owns 220 dwellings, a store, postoffice building, 
mine office, two compressor houses, change house, barn, three ware¬ 
houses, carpenter, blacksmith and machine shops, a saw mill, round 
house, fire engine and hose house and a well equipped fire hall. The 
company employs 500 men. The production of refined copper up to 
January 1, 1899, was 82,672,146 pounds. In 1898 the mine produced 
5,962,159 pounds of mineral, which yielded 4,377,399 pounds of refined 
copper. The total rock hoisted during this year was 373,655 tons, of 
which 370,767 tons was stamped. The amount of mineral per fathom 
of ground mined was 290 pounds, which yielded 214 pounds of refined 
copper. The percentage of mineral in the rock stamped was seventy- 
eight hundredths of one per cent, which yielded fifty-nine hundreths of 
one per cent of refined copper, which equals 11 4-5 pounds of refined 
copper per ton of rock. The transportation of rock to the mill, with 
the shipping of the mineral to the smelters, cost five and one-half 


106 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OP LAKE SUPERIOR. 


cents per ton. The cost of separating and stamping the rock was 24 
cents per ton. 

The capital of the company is $1,000,000, divided into 40,000 shares 
of a par value of $25 each. Of the capital, $980,000 has been paid in. 
Since the organization of the company, July 18,1872, it has distributed 
to its shareholders $780,000 in dividends. In 1898 the dividends 
amounted to $40,000. The balance of assets, as per last report, was 
$105,098.87. The general offices of the company are in New York, 
and the officials are Joseph E. Gay, president, and John Stanton, 
secretary and treasurer. The mine officials are Frank McM. Stanton, 
agent; A. D. Edwards, clerk; William S. Trethewey, mining captain; 
and F. G. Coggin, mill superintendent. 


Tsle Royale Consolidated* 

The mineral lands of the Isle Royale mark the site of the inaugu¬ 
ration of copper mining operations along the shores of Portage Lake 
nearly a half century ago. The company’s lands comprise 1,640 
acres, and include the old Grand Portage, Isle Royale and Huron prop¬ 
erties, located south of Houghton, each of which was wrought to a con¬ 
siderable extent under primitive methods, producing considerable 
copper. Measured by mining methods of today, the properties were 
never equipped or developed, and production was necessarily on a 
limited scale that eventually brought about a cessation of operations 
at each. 

Work was commenced on the Isle Royale in August, 1852. The 
company had been incorporated to work at Isle Royale island, where 
it was engaged for several years previous. Upon its new location the 
existence of a copper-bearing lode was discovered, and this has since 
been known as the Isle Royale lode. The location of the lode was de¬ 
termined by the number of Indian diggings which extended along its 
outcrop. These when explored disclosed a good show of copper. Oper¬ 
ations were discontinued in 1870, by which year the mine had produced 
9,204,071 pounds of copper. 

Operations at the Grand Portage commenced in 1853, on what was 



PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


107 


known as the Portage vein, but which is believed to be the Isle Royale 
lode, the latter being supposed to have faulted at this property. Work 
was discontinued with the depletion of the original treasury fund, and 
in 1860 the company was reorganized and work resumed. Its active 
career was brief, however, and a short time later the mine was turned 
over to tributors. 

In 1879 the property was purchased by Hancock capitalists. Mining 
operations were resumed, and were continued for several years, 
during which the stamp mill product was about 45 tons of copper 
monthly, and this under the old methods of mining and with anti¬ 
quated mining machinery, while the rock was hauled to the stamp 
mill by teams. 

The history of the old Huron property is quite similar to that of 
those described above, although the operations there were much more 
extensive. Work was commenced on this property in 1855, and con¬ 
tinued intermittingly, and with indifferent success, until within a 
recent period. The company possessed an old-fashioned inland stamp 
mill of limited capacity, though large enough for the mine’s demands, 
but for economic reasons the mine suffered the fate of many similar 
ventures started on a small scale in this district. 

With the improved copper situation that set in a few years ago, 
the value of these properties attracted the attention of Nathan F. 
Leopold, of Chicago, who, after much trouble, succeeded in securing 
control of all three, and organized the present company to fully develop 
them. The property passed into the hands of the new owners a trifle 
over two years ago, but it was not until July, 1897, that work was 
commenced. The old mines were found to be shorn of almost every¬ 
thing of value, while the shafts had caved in and filled with refuse of 
long years’ accumulation, so that reopening them was anything but a 
pleasant or easy task. It was hot until October 29, 1897, that miners 
began work by cutting down from surface and enlarging the old No. 8 
shaft at the Grand Portage; this shaft was opened through the old 
workings to the fourth level, and since then it has been enlarged and 
extended to its present depth of about 1,000 feet. Sinking to the 
twelfth level is under way. This shaft is known as No. 1; in size it is 
6 x 30 feet, with two skip ways, man car way and pipe and ladder way. 
Many notable improvements in the way of permanent equipment are 
in progress at this shaft. 

An engine house, built of steel and stone, has been completed and 
in it has been installed a 25-drill, two-stage, cross-compound compress¬ 
or. In this building there will also be installed a new cone and 
straight-faced hoist, designed for a working depth of 6,000 feet. This 
hoist is to be a duplicate of that at No. 6 shaft at the Osceola, and its 
delivery at the mine is expected about July 1st of the current year, 


108 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


In addition to the above, a new boiler house, which will be of stone 
and steel, also four new 84-inch fire-box boilers, are under contract for 
early service. 

Located 2,280 feet south is shaft No. 2, formerly No. 8 shaft of the 
old Isle Royale workings. Its dimensions are similar to those of No. 1. 
It was sunk by the old company to the eighth level, and under the pres¬ 
ent management mining work was commenced there in January, 1898. 
This shaft has about the same depth as No. 1 and is at present being ex¬ 
tended to the twelfth level, which both shafts had about reached when 
this description was written. 

Extension of the shafts to this level will give practically six levels 
at each shaft in which drifts will be started into new ground. This 
will make a total of twenty-four drifts. No. 2 shaft is well equipped 
for the present needs, though it is more than likely the hoist in use 
there will soon be superseded by a permanent one similar to that 
ordered for No. 1 shaft. 

The length of the lode on the property is about 9,500 feet and the 
dip 56i degrees. The formation varies in width from seven to thirty 
feet. The showing in the two shafts under way is very good and gives 
encouraging promise for the future of the mine. The lode is an amyg- 
daloidal belt of brownish color, with epidote, quartz spar and prehnite 
well represented in its composition. 

The company owns a mill site comprising 80 acres, located west of 
the mouth of Pilgrim river, on the shore of Portage Lake, about three 
and one-half miles distant from the mine. Work on the construction 
of a new stamp mill is looked forward to at an early date, as is also the 
sinking of additional shafts at the mine. Convenient to No. 2 shaft 
are located the company’s blacksmith, machine and carpenter shops, 
warehouse, compressor house, offices, and a dry house that ranks among 
the finest and best-kept of any on the copper range. It owns 36 dwell¬ 
ings, all occupied by employees. 

No work of any kind has as yet been done by the company on the 
old Huron property. 

The company was organized February 20, 1897, with a capital of 
$2,500,000, divided into 100,000 shares of a par value of $25 each. Of this 
amount $2,000,000 has been paid in. The company had a balance on 
hand January 1, 1899, of $845,045. The main office is in Boston. Albert 
S. Bigelow is president; William J. Ladd, secretary and treasurer. 
The mine officials are: William E. Parnall, superintendent: H. I). 
Haddock, clerk; Edward Warmington, mining captain; James E. 
Richards, master mechanic. 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


109 


Orcadian Copper Company* 

It is not too much to say that no other new mine opened in this 
district within the past two years has attracted so much attention 
as the Arcadian. One of the many features creating interest in this 
property is the fact that the organization of the Arcadian Copper 
Company marked the advent of Standard Oil Company capital in the 
field of copper mining. An equally important feature, and one that is 
more appreciated locally, is the energy and push displayed in getting 
the mine in condition for regular production. The amount of work 
done in the space of eight months following the date of the company’s 
organization is without a parallel in the history of copper mining, and 
the Arcadian, which was an isolated and deserted property a year and 
a half ago, will be a thoroughly equipped mine and take its place 
among the list of producers upon a liberal scale before the summer of 
1899 has passed by. The attention of Nathan F. Leopold, of Chicago, 
was attracted to the company’s mineral lands many years ago, and in 
the fall of 1897 he started a force of men at work sinking and drifting 
in what were then known as the old Concord and Arcadian shafts. 
In May, 1898, No. 3 shaft was started, and with the opening of the 
spring of that year the lands were cleared of underbrush and many 
improvements of a general character inaugurated. 

The mineral lands of the Arcadian Company comprise 2,880 acres, 
and include the old Arcadian, Douglass, Concord, Edwards and other 
adjoining properties, situate northeast of the Quincy mine in Frank¬ 
lin township. The most westerly lode on the property is the Calumet 
& Ilecla conglomerate, and east of this belt, in the order named, are the 
Osceola amygdaloid, North Star conglomerate, Kearsarge conglomer¬ 
ate, Kearsarge amygdaloid, Grand Portage amygdaloid, and the Isle 
Eoyale amygdaloid, which latter is believed to be the belt upon which 
mining operations are now conducted. The Isle Royale lode trav¬ 
erses the property across its entire length, a distance of 13,000 feet, and 
bears the general characteristics of the master amygdaloid belts of 
the copper range. Its average width is about thirteen feet, and the 
dip 56i degrees. 

The shafts have three compartments, containing two skip ways and 
a pipe and ladder way. Provision is made for the use of skips of six tons 
capacity. The mine is operating 41 drills. No. 1 is the most southerly 
shaft on the property. Since June last it has been sunk from a depth 
of 75 feet to a distance of 235 feet. For this shaft there has been 
ordered a new hoist capable of working to a depth of 1,200 feet. There 
has also been ordered the necessary boilers and adjuncts to replace the 


110 COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERiOR. 


present temporary equipment. This shaft can be extended to a depth 
of 8,200 feet on the company’s property. Located at a distance 1,620 
feet north is Shaft No. 2, which had a depth of 370 feet when the com¬ 
pany commenced operations and has a present depth of 620 feet. This 
shaft can be extended to a maximum depth of 10,200 feet within the 
lines of the property. A temporary hoist is doing service at this 
shaft, which will be replaced within a couple of months by a new 
32" x72" double hoist, capable of working to a depth of 6,000 feet. For 
this machinery a battery of boilers of 900 horse power has also been 
ordered. Two compound, two-stage compressors will also be located 
here, replacing the single stage compressor at No. 3. The latter shaft 
is located 1,730 feet north of No. 2 and has a depth of 430 feet. It was 
sunk from surface by the present company and has continually shown 
well in stamp and heavy copper, as does also No. 2 shaft. Installed 
at this shaft at present is a hoist capable of working to a depth of 800 
feet, and two crown tube boilers, each of 125 horse power. The 
equipment at this shaft also includes a compressor of forty-drill 
capacity. A large shaTt house, which will form part of the rock shaft 
house, will be completed this spring. There is also located here a 
water reservoir with a capacity of 110,000 gallons, which is held in re¬ 
serve for fire purposes. A stone building conveniently located con¬ 
tains a fire pump arranged to start automatically the instant the fire 
plugs are opened. This delivers water through a six-inch main to the 
various shafts and mine buildings. Fire hose connected with the regu¬ 
lar water mains are provided in all the mine buildings. 

The hoisting machinery at No. 3 shaft will at an early day be re¬ 
placed by a hoist similar to that at No. 4 shaft, which is located north 
from this point, at a distance of 1,150 feet. No. 4 shaft has been sunk 
by the company from a depth of 135 feet to a* depth of 550 feet. The 
maximum depth to which it can be extended on the property is 10,500 
feet. A new hoist of the most modern pattern has been ordered for 
this shaft and will be installed in the near future. It will be a double 
hoist with cylinders 32"x72", capable of working to a depth of 6,000 
feet. There will also be a triple expansion, three-stage air compressor, 
with a capacity of from 65 to 70 drills. Both machines will be supplied 
with steam from a battery of 800 horse-power water tube boilers, oper¬ 
ating at 200 pounds’ pressure, furnished by the Stirling Company, of 
Chicago. The hoist and compressor will be condensing, and a large 
pond will furnish the necessary cooling water. No. 5 shaft, which is 
located a distance of 1,780 feet south of No. 4, is not at present being 
operated, but will be the coming summer. The depth of this shaft is 
75 feet and the maximum distance to which it can be extended is 6,600 
feet. The amount of drifting is as follows: No. 2 shaft, 2,245 feet; 
No. 3, 1,955 feet; No. 4, 3,130 feet. The total length of openings, old 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


til 


and new, at the mine is 11,780 feet. New ground is being opened at the 
rate of 1,500 feet per month, and this is being constantly increased, so 
that when the mill goes into commission there will be sufficient ground 
prepared to enable the company to exercise economy in selecting its 
stoping ground, and at the same time treat fully 1,500 tons of rock 
every 24 hours. 

To insure absolute immunity against danger from fire and conse¬ 
quent stoppage of work in the mine, and also to cut off a large cost for 
annual repairs, the company has ordered for its four working shafts 
steel shaft houses 44 x 64 feet, and 86 feet in height from the cap stones 
to the ridge of the head wheel tower. These buildings will be of heavy 
steel construction and will contain so little wooden material that the 
fire risk is practically nil. They will be equipped with two 13"x20" 
and two 18"x24", latest improved pattern, Blake crushers, driven by a 
10"x 24" Corliss engine. All large rock will be broken to size fit for the 
crushers by heavy steam hammers, which will also trim up the mass 
work. The car tunnels under the building will be adapted to the 
standard gauge tracks, thus permitting the use of rock cars of double 
the capacity of those now in use. The engine and boiler houses, as 
well as the various shops, are built of stone and steel, with a view to 
permanence as well as to guard against fire. The company is well 
equipped in the matter of shops, in which respect it will stand com¬ 
parison with a great many of the older companies. Each shop is 30x60 
feet, with attic and basement, and all shops are connected by bays 
15x40 feet, which are used for engine room, stoek racks, etc. The 
machine shop contains a 36"x40" 10-foot planer, a 32-inch 20-foot lathe, 
a 24-inch 12-foot lathe, and 18-inch 10-foot lathe, a five-foot radial 
drill press, besides a number of valuable tools. This will enable the com¬ 
pany to make considerable of its machinery. The carpenter and black¬ 
smith shops show the same completeness in the matter of equipment, 
and at each place work is conducted with every advantage in the 
way of labor saving appliances. The machinery in the shops is driven 
by a 10"x30" Hamilton-Corliss engine, belted to a main shaft from 
which power is taken by means of friction clutches, so that any shop 
can be run independent of the others. 

For the accommodation of its employees, the company, during the 
past year, erected four modern residences for the mine officials; two 
boarding houses, each capable of providing for 75 men; and fifty 6-room 
dwellings. In addition to this a number of old houses were repaired, 
improved and rendered serviceable. 

Water for the location is supplied through a steel pipe line 10,600 
feet long, reaching to the Boston pond, where a new pumping station 
has been installed. The tracks of the Mineral Range railroad are ex¬ 
tended from its main line Into the Arcadian, and the necessary sidings, 


112 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


yards, etc., are completed and in use. The coming few months will 
witness the completion of the standard-gauge railway leading from the 
Arcadian to its new stamp mill at Grosse Point, where the company 
possesses a most admirable mill site, comprising 406 acres of land with 
an extensive lake frontage and sand room that will last during the life 
of the mine. The mill building is a steel structure 132x213 feet. The 
rock bins are also of steel and the railroad trestles leading to the mill 
will be of like material. The mill will contain three stamps, all of the 
very latest design and embodying all improvements up to date. They 
will have a combined capacity of 1,500 tons daily. One hundred and 
eight of the latest improved gigs and nine double-decked Fraser & 
Chalmers’ slime tables will be installed. The boiler house is also of 
steel and corrugated iron, and will contain four 84-inch crown tube 
boilers, run at 110 pounds pressure, to operate stamps, and one T2-inch 
crown tube boiler, run at 150 pounds pressure, to operate the pumping 
engines. These are all arranged for dome draft, leading to a brick- 
lined, self-supporting stack, seven feet inside diameter and 110 feet 
high, above a 20-foot masonry stub. The pump house is also of steel 
and corrugated iron, and will contain a triple-expansion, high-duty 
pumping engine. Its capacity will be 15,000,000 gallons every 24 hours, 
a quantity sufficient for six heads of stamps, which the company will 
no doubt have in operation at no very distant date. The pump house 
has been made large enough for the installation of an electric lighting 
plant, should one become necessary. The company has a magnificent 
dock, 675 feet in length, at this place, and a coal-handling apparatus 
will be constructed the coming summer. There have also been erected 
the necessary auxiliary buildings, such as shops, warehouses and stables. 
A town site has been laid out and the necessary dwellings erected for 
employees. 

It seems incredible that the work outlined above could be accom¬ 
plished in a space of eight months. At the mine and mill the same 
unequalled energy is still being displayed, with the result that the 
company is promised a reward by getting its product on the market 
while the price of the metal is high. 

The Arcadian is an extensive mining property that can be prac¬ 
tically wrought to unlimited depths. Copper was produced in large 
quantities when the old Arcadian was worked, years ago, with primi¬ 
tive methods; and the results obtained at present are highly satisfac¬ 
tory, warranting the belief that before many years the mine will attain 
a position among the leading amygdaloid lode producers of the Lake 
region. 

The Arcadian Copper Company was organized June 22, 1898, with a 
capital of $2,500,000, divided into 100,000 shares of $25 each. The eastern 
office is in Boston. 




PHOTOGRAPHED BY A. F. ISLER, INTErtlOE, OF STAMP MILL. 

LAKE LINDEN. 





























PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


113 


The officers of the company are: Albert C. Burrage, president; 
Charles D. Burrage, treasurer; Nathan F. Leopold, general manager. 
The local officers are: Edgar Kidwell, superintendent; James M. Wil¬ 
cox, mining captain; Robert H. Shields, clerk; Henry C. Krause, su¬ 
perintendent of stamp mill. 


Cbe Baltic* 

It is doubtful if, within the past thirty years, any new mining 
proposition has attracted so much attention in the early stages of its 
exploitation as did that presented by the Baltic Mining Company, 
when it undertook the development of what is now known as the Bal¬ 
tic mine. This was because of the great possibilities of the property 
indicated by the showing made from the very beginning, the lode 
where opened disclosing ground remarkably rich in copper. The 
strength and richness of the Baltic lode quickly came to be a common 
and engrossing topic of discussion, and attracted innumerable visitors 
to the property, who were amazed by what they saw, and by their 
accounts of the promise the Baltic gave of becoming a great mine 
added to the deep interest taken in the property by the public. 

The Baltic was the first of the many mining flotations accom¬ 
plished during the past two years, and to its splendid appearance, as 
far as the underground work has gone, is largely due the attention 
since given the South range, now so thickly dotted with new mines 
for its entire length, and about to be traversed by a new railroad, 
which will give the Copper district a second outlet to the outer world. 

The mineral lands of the Baltic Company consist of 800 acres in 
sections 20 and 21. Exploratory work was first done on the property 
by the late Captain John Ryan in 1882, when the lode was exposed by 
test pits, and a shaft, now known as No. 1, was sunk to a depth of 66 
feet. This shaft exposed a wonderful showing of heavy copper, and 
the possibilities it disclosed, together with the showing at the test pits, 
resulted in the purchase of the property from the St. Mary’s Canal & 
Mineral Land Company by the Baltic Mining Company, in November, 



114 COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 

1897. Active operations were instituted at the mine the first of the 
following month. The dense woods were cleared away, the necessary 
equipment was secured and accommodations for employees were pro¬ 
vided. As above stated, No. 1 shaft was then 66 feet in depth. Drifts 
had been extended from the bottom south for a distance of 174 feet, 
and north 33 feet. The Baltic Company started underground work by 
extending cross-cuts from each of these drifts. The distances at¬ 
tained were 22 and 21 feet respectively, and these openings were in the 
Vein, except a portion which broke into the hanging wall. This shaft 
w^s then straightened and enlarged, and cross-cuts were driven to ex¬ 
pose the foot and hanging walls, after which sinking was resumed and 
a depth of about 220 feet has now been attained, with sinking and 
drifting at present under way. North of this shaft 630 feet is No. 3 
shaft, which has a depth of 170 feet and gives a good showing of stamp 
rock. This shaft, like the others, is being sunk and its levels opened 
up as rapidly as possible. No. 4 shaft, 900 feet north of No. 3, is down 
165 feet, and at a distance still 900 feet further north is No. 5 shaft, 
with a present depth of about 100 feet. Shafts 1, 3 and 4 have an ag¬ 
gregate of about 2,100 feet of drifts. The heaviest copper thus far has 
been secured at No. 1, where many large masses have been taken out, 
while the best stamp rock has been secured from shafts 3, 4 and 5— 
which, by the way, are three-compartment shafts, in size 24 x 10. Situ¬ 
ated 900 feet north of shaft No. 5 is No. 6, which was sunk from an 
adit level driven west from the creek. The lode is exposed on the 
property for a distance of 2,793 feet along the line of strike, a maxi¬ 
mum depth of 182 feet. A maximum width of 50 feet is shown as 
measured at right angles to the vein, and a minimum width of 16 feet. 
This is, by all odds, the greatest copper-bearing lode, in width, that 
has ever been discovered in the district. 

At No. 1 shaft both walls are exposed, showing a width of lode of 
50 feet, while at the other shafts from 16 to 20 feet of vein has been 
broken and at neither has the hanging wall yet been encountered. 

The dip of the lode is found to be between 72 and 74 degrees. In 
character it is an amygdaloid belt and probably the most easterly yet 
worked. It is irregular in width, character of the rock, and the form 
in which the copper occurs. The rock is of medium hardness, greyish 
in color. It carries considerable calcite, and in some portions of the 
vein epidote and other associate minerals. Geologists believe the belt 
to be the Mabbs vein, which was opened a number of years ago a short 
distance east of the Isle Royale property. 

There are about 25,000 tons of rock piled at surface, taken from the 
new openings, a portion of which is poor and should be selected before 
it is sent to the mill. The machinery is of a temporary character. 
Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 5 shafts are equipped with double-cylinder geared 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


115 , 

hoists, with suitable boiler plants. Small compressor plants are rei/ A 
dering service at Nos. 1, 3 and 5 shafts. p 

From a wilderness 18 months ago, the Baltic location has become 
a hamlet of fair proportions. There are in all 38 buildings on the 
property, among which are 22 dwellings; a neat school house, where 
religious services are also conducted; a blacksmith shop, change house, 
supply house and office, and powder and oil houses. 

The remarkable severity of the past winter interfered much with 
surface improvements,'especially with the construction of No. 3 shaft 
house. There is some talk of the Baltic being about to commence 
stamping its rock in the very near future, but the openings are npt far 
enough advanced to permit of stoping ground being selected, and to 
start a mill under present conditions would be contrary to approved 
methods of modern mining. The first, or adit, level will not permit of 
immediate stoping, and it is being opened largely to drain off the in¬ 
flow of surface water to the creek north of No. 6. The second level is 
not far enough extended in the shafts, and until provision is made for 
more stoping ground in this part of the mine, starting a stamp mill 
would be folly, as there would not be opportunity to exercise proper 
economy in mining and stamping the product. 

The capital of the company is $2,500,000, divided into 100,000 shares 
of a par value of $25 each. The amount paid in is $1,200,000, and the 
date of the company’s organization, November 23, 1897. 

The main office of the company is in New York. John Stanton is 
president; J. R. Stanton, secretary and treasurer. Officers at the 
mine are: Frank McM. Stanton, agent; A. D. Edwards, clerk; Thomas 
Rowland, mining captain. 


€be iUinotia* 

Ranking among the most promising of the new mining ventures 
in Houghton county is the Winona property, the development of which 
from the beginning made in May of last year has been uniformly 
and in the highest degree encouraging, the lode showing great rich¬ 
ness in copper at every point where a sinking on it has been made. 

For many years it has been known that the property now being 
developed by the Winona company carried a copper lode of great value, 
but lack of railway facilities rendered capital timid about engaging in 
the expensive undertaking of exploiting it. But when the certainty 



116 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


that the South range would be provided with one or more railways 
before the current year closed removed that cause of apprehension, 
'it became easy to interest capital in the enterprise of converting this 
promising copper property into a producing mine, and the company 
which now owns it was organized for the purpose of securing and 
developing it in the fall of last year. 

The mineral lands of the company cover a tract of 1,480 acres, 
comprising the east half of section 19, the west half of 20, the north¬ 
east quarter of 20, the west half of the southeast quarter of 20, the 
northeast quarter of 30, the northwest quarter of 29, the northeast 
quarter of 32, and three forties in the northwest quarter of 22, all in 
township 56, range 32. The present company is the successor of a 
company bearing the same name which was organized in 1864 to develop 
the property, and which did work that fully established the existence 
there of a valuable lode. 

The veins were very clearly defined by ancient pits which showed 
that the early miners had worked the outcrops there quite extensively. 
A shaft was sunk to a limited depth, and from this a comparatively 
large quantity of mass and barrel copper was secured, but the cost of 
conducting operations, owing to the isolated location of the property 
and the difficulty and cost of getting in supplies, caused a cessation of 
work. In the spring of 1898, William A. Paine of Boston secured an 
option on the property and at once placed miners at work under the 
supervision of Captain John Welton to develop the lode. The results 
were so assuring that he secured control of the property, and six 
months later, November 7, 1898, the Winona Copper Company was 
organized, with a capital of $2,500,000, divided into 100,000 shares of a 
par value of $25 each, to develop it. Of the capital $800,000 has been 
paid in. F. W. Denton was engaged as mine superintendent. Under 
his direction the opening of the mine on a broad scale was at once 
commenced and is now being pushed with the utmost vigor. The 
extension of two shafts is now well underway. Each of these is 19x7 
inside timbers and contains two skip ways and a pipe and ladder way. 

No. 1 shaft has a present depth of 210 feet. At the first level 
drifts have been extended north 40 feet and south 100 feet, while at 
the second level the north drift has been extended 70 feet and the 
south drift 82 feet. As in the early openings, this shaft continues to 
yield much barrel work. The greater portion of the vein matter, how¬ 
ever, is a splendid stamp rock. The lode is of a good healthy char¬ 
acter, bearing a striking resemblance to that at the Quincy, and re¬ 
veals a mineralization such as calcite, epidote and red oxide. The 
drifts at the bottom of No. 1 show good stamp rock, while the south 
drift is also producing barrel copper. No. 2 shaft, located 900 feet 
south of No. 1, has a depth of 97 feet, and is securely timbered to the 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


117 


bottom. From this depth a fork has been cut into the footwall and a 
drift of 20 feet has been extended north. In sinking No. 2, barre' 
work, small masses and stamp rock were found nicely distributee! 
throughout the lode, and it might be stated that thus far no “poor i 
dump” has been started, as everything hoisted is of enough value to 
warrant sending it to the stamp mill. The lode has been opened by 
test pits for a distance of 600 feet south of No. 2 shaft, a good show of 
stamp copper being exposed in the pits. North of No. 1 shaft the 
lode is opened by three pits a distance of 1,000 feet. Arrangements 
for starting a third shaft are now about completed, the necessary 
machinery being already at the mine. The location of this shaft will 
probably be south of No. 2. 

• The lode traverses the property for a distance of about II miles, 
and dips at an angle of 72 degrees. Its width, as shown by the present 
openings, is from 14 to 18 feet. The property is also traversed by a 
number of unexplored amygdaloid and conglomerate belts. 

The hoisting engine house, located at an equal distance between 
shafts Nos. 1 and 2, is a steel, fire-proof building 40x40. For these 
shafts the equipment consists of a double-drum hoist. Each drum is 
five feet in diameter and carries 700 feet of rope. Room is provided 
for a duplicate hoist. In this building is also installed an Ingersoll- 
Sergeant 12-drill compressor. The boiler house is also of steel and in 
size, 40 x 48. It contains four 80-horse power boilers. 

New rock houses at the shafts have just been completed. They 
are more convenient and permit of greater economy in working than 
the old, temporary structures. The company has also erected an of¬ 
fice, carpenter and blacksmith shops, boarding houses, barns, and 
other necessary structures. It has now in operation a saw mill, hav¬ 
ing a capacity of 24,000 feet of lumber daily, and has in stock a sup¬ 
ply of 350,000 feet of hemlock and pine logs. The mill will furnish 
lumber with which to erect new houses for the employees, and also 
mine timber. A townsite has been platted and a number of dwellings 
will be erected the coming summer. The survey of the Copper Range 
railroad, about to be constructed, locates the road a distance of about 
1,500 feet from the line of the shafts. 

The Winona has a good showing and there is every indication 
that it will, when developed, be numbered among the valuable mines 
of the district. The eastern offices of the company are in New York. 
John Stanton is president; J. W. Hardley, secretary; J. R. Stan¬ 
ton, treasurer. 


118 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


* tbc Centennial. 

The mineral lands of this company, comprising 640 acres, lie direct¬ 
ly north of the Calumet & Hecla. Work was first commenced on the 
property by the Schoolcraft Mining Company in 1863, when shafts 
were started on the Calumet conglomerate lode. That company con¬ 
ducted operations at a loss until 1875, and the following year the prop¬ 
erty passed into the hands of the Centennial Copper Mining Company. 

In the latter part of 1880 work was begun by the new company on 
the Osceola amygdaloid lode. Two shafts were started 600 feet apart, 
but work was suspended before the value of the lode was thoroughly 
tested, as is evidenced by the satisfactory showing in these shafts to¬ 
day. The showing at these two shafts was as good as on the same lode 
at the Osceola at the same depths. 

There was never a lack of confidence in the future of the Centen¬ 
nial, and it was no surprise when, in 1896, H. F. Fay visited the prop¬ 
erty and reported thereon to the directors, suggesting that work be re¬ 
sumed at the mine. 

Mr. Fay’s visit resulted in the mine again commencing operations, 
and with James Chynoweth acting as superintendent of the company 
the first work, that of unwatering No. 6 shaft on the Calumet conglom¬ 
erate lode, was begun January 15, 1897. The shaft was sunk from the 
fifth level and drifts were extended north for a distance of 820 feet. 
Considerable stoping was done at the fourth and fifth levels, but the 
chute of copper expected to continue to the latter level pinched out be¬ 
low the fourth. Sinking was continued from the fifth level to the 
twelfth, but nothing valuable was discovered and work has been tempor¬ 
arily suspended at that point. The management, however, has not 
lost confidence in this lode, and hopes to ultimately find it valuable at 
a lower depth. At present operations are conducted on the Osceola 
amygdaloid lode, and the conditions offer every encouragement for the 
future. 

Since work was resumed No. 1 shaft has been reconstructed from 
top to bottom on the plane of the lode and extended from the third 
to the eighth level, a depth of 800 feet. No. 2 shaft has been sunk 
from the fifth to the tenth level, a depth of 1,000 feet. These shafts 
are at present being extended to greater depths, and drifts opened up 
at a rate of 650 feet a month, which will be greatly increased so as to 
have plenty of reserves provided when the contemplated new stamp 
mill goes into operation. 

Among the suggestions made by the company’s president when 
work was resumed was the development of the Kearsarge lode; and to 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


119 


avoid the disadvantages of a vertical shaft, which would have to be 
sunk to intersect it on the Centennial property, a forty-acre parcel of land 
containing the outcrop of this valuable belt was bought from the 
Canal company in October, 1898. Exploration for the Kearsarge lode 
was begun December 1, 1898, and when it is located a three-compart¬ 
ment shaft to reach it will be started. 

The Calumet conglomerate is the most westerly lode; east of it a 
distance of 750 feet lies the Osceola amygdaloid; east of the Osceola 
lode 750 feet lies the Kearsarge conglomerate, and 1,250 feet east of the 
latter is located the Kearsarge amygdaloid. The dip of the Calumet 
conglomerate and Osceola lodes is 38 degrees, and the width of the 
latter is twenty feet. 

The present monthly product of the mine is about 60 tons of min¬ 
eral, which yields about 86 per cent of refined copper. The percentage 
of mineral from the stamp rock is one and one-third. But little stop- 
ing is'being done at present, and a large portion of the rock treated 
comes from new openings. 

The satisfactory results achieved in the development of the two 
shafts on the Osceola lode, together with the prospect of securing 
good results from the Kearsarge lode, upon which the Wolverine-Kear- 
sarge branch of the Osceola are being wrought and the Mohawk devel¬ 
oped, have convinced the management that the mine is entering on 
the most prosperous stage of its career, and that it would be well 
to provide it with such equipment as will permit of greatly enlarged 
operations. The first move in this direction was the purchase of an 
admirable mill site with three-quarters of a mile frontage on the shore 
of Torch Lake, about six miles distant from the mine. A modern 
stamp mill will be erected and a railroad leading to it built the com¬ 
ing summer. Many improvements will be made in the mine equip¬ 
ment and large and powerful hoists will replace the machinery now 
doing service at Nos. 1 and 2 shafts. In the meantime, the working 
shafts will be extended and new ground opened up as fast as possible, 
so that when the new mill is completed three stamps can be continu¬ 
ously supplied with rock. The Centennial gives every evidence of be¬ 
ing about to become a reliably profitable mine. The company owns 
two office buildings; an oil and powder house; carpenter, blacksmith 
and machine shops; and a stamp mill which has been recently repaired 
and equipped with new pumps and Hodge improved jigs. 

The mine employs 240 men. The local officers are James Chyno- 
weth, superintendent; Charles Chynoweth, clerk; J. Pentecost, mining 
captain. The capital of the company is $2,500,000, divided into 100,000 
shares of a par value of $25 each. The eastern office is in Boston. H. 
F. Fay is president; W. B. Mosman, secretary and treasurer. 


120 COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OP LAKE SUPERIOR. 


Old Colony* 

The mineral lands of this company comprise 1,200 acres lying north¬ 
east of the Calumet & Hecla, in sections 17 and 18, township 56, range 
32 west. Exploratory work was begun on the property June 1, 1898, 
since which date a number of lodes have been found, several of which 
give much promise. On the first formation discovered, a shaft was ex¬ 
tended to a depth of 40 feet, revealing a well defined amygdaloid lode. 
At present work is confined to the west lode, where two shafts are be¬ 
ing sunk at a distance apart of 1,000 feet. Both are provided with 
the necessary equipment. No. 1 shaft has a present depth of 100 feet 
and No. 2 of 70 feet. The dip of the lode is 38 degrees and the average 
width 15 feet. Both shafts show well in mass, stamp and barrel cop¬ 
per. 

At a distance of 2,800 feet east of the first mentioned lode a con¬ 
glomerate formation 40 feet in width was uncovered, which will be giv¬ 
en attention later. East of there 700 feet another conglomerate lode 
of very much promise was located, and east of the latter lode a dis¬ 
tance of 500 feet an amygdaloid vein was discovered, upon which a shaft 
was sunk to a depth of 28 feet, without encountering either the foot or 
hanging wall. This is believed to be the same lode that was opened up 
on the St. Louis property years ago, when 40 tons of copper was secured 
from a comparatively few fathoms of ground. East of this lode 240 
feet, still another amygdaloid belt was found. A test pit was sunk to 
a depth of 10 feet into vein matter, revealing a rock of sparry character 
and promising appearance. 

The two shafts now in operation will be pushed down with all 
dispatch and the other lodes will be further explored during the com¬ 
ing summer. The property will be traversed by the railway leading 
from the Centennial to its stamp mill, and will share the Centennial’s 
milling facilities at Torch Lake. 

The local officers are James Chynoweth, superintendent; Charles 
Chynoweth, clerk; Thomas Rapson, mining captain. 

The capital of the company is $2,500,000, divided into 100,000 shares 
of a par value of $25 each. Of the capital, $1,000,000 has been paid in. 
The main office is in Boston. H. E. Fay is president; W. B. Mosman, 
secretary and treasurer. 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


121 


Che mayflowcr. 

The Mayflower is one of the mining companies organized during 
the current year, and owes its creation largely to the showing made on 
the Old Colony property. The mineral lands of the company consist 
of 840 acres lying east of the Kearsarge and Wolverine and north of the 
Old Colony. The property is traversed by the various lodes on the lat¬ 
ter property. The capital of the company is $2,500,000; the stock being 
divided into 100,000 shares of a par value of $25 each. The amount paid 
in is $800,000. Henry F. Fay, of Boston, is president; W. B. Mosman, 
secretary and treasurer; James Chynoweth, superintendent. 


Cccumseb. 

The mineral lands of the Tecumseh embrace 560 acres situated di¬ 
rectly south of the Osceola, and are traversed along their length by the 
Osceola and Kearsarge amygdaloid and Calumet conglomerate belts. 
Considerable work has been done on the Calumet conglomerate, where 
a shaft was sunk to a depth of about 600 feet, but the result was a dis¬ 
appointment, as the formation was found to be almost totally barren 
of copper. Work on this lode was suspended and attention is now be¬ 
ing given to the development of the Osceola lode, which has opened so 
well south of No. 6 shaft on the Osceola property, but a short distance 
from the Tecumseh workings. The shaft on the Osceola lode contains 
two skip ways and a ladder way, and is 20 x 7 feet within timbers. It 
is sunk on the plane of the lode to a depth of 300 feet. At a depth of 
500 feet drifting north and south will be commenced, and sinking con¬ 
tinued. The shaft seems to be in the center of the lode, and as yet 
neither foot nor hanging wall is visible. This shaft can be sunk to 
an unlimited depth. 

The shaft house and engine house are completed and the latter is 
equipped with a single hoist, 16 x 24 feet, capable of working to a depth 
of 1,500 feet. An order has been placed for a compressor of 15-drill 
capacity. No. 2 shaft will be started at a point about 1,000 feet north 
of No. 1 early this spring. The Kearsarge lode lies about 2,000 feet 
east of the Osceola. Some exploratory work has been done on this 
vein, and it will likely receive further attention the coming summer. 

The company was organized in March, 1880, with a capital of 
$1,000,000, divided into 40,000 shares of a par value of $25 each. Two 



122 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY 01’ LAKE SUPERIOR. 


undred thousand dollars had been called in up to March 2 of this 
^ year, when the capital was increased to $2,500,000 and the number of 
shares to 100,000, the par value remaining the same. Of the new 
stock 20,000 shares were placed in the treasury. The company’s office 
is in Boston. John C. Watson is president; D. L. Demmon, 
secretary and treasurer. James Chynoweth is superintendent of the 
mine. 


Cri-mountaiti. 

The Tri-mountain Copper Company’s mineral lands comprise 1,120 
acres located directly south of the Baltic and traversed by the Baltic, 
and, it is believed, the Isle Royale lodes. The former lode has been 
traced across the length of the property. The preparation of plans 
for development of the property on an extensive scale is about com¬ 
pleted and active operations will commence as soon as the equipment, 
already ordered, arrives. 

The company was organized in January, 1899, with a capitalization 
of 100,000 shares of a par value of $25 each. Four hundred thousand 
dollars was placed in the treasury, with which to carry on mining 
operations. The eastern offices of the company are in Boston and the 
officials are H. F. Fay, president; W. B. Mosman, secretary and treas¬ 
urer; James Chynoweth, mine superintendent. 


Rhode Island mining Company. 

The mining location of the Rhode Island Mining Company is di¬ 
rectly north of the Franklin Junior, and comprises 800 acres of land, 
situated in section 5 and the southwest quarter of section 4, town 55, 
range 33. 

The most westerly lode on the property is the Pewabic, and east of 
this, in order, are the Albany & Boston amygdaloid, Mesnard epidote, 
Albany & Boston conglomerate, Calumet conglomerate and the Osceola 
amygdaloid. The first exploratory work on the property was done in 
1864 and 1865, when fully $10,000 was -expended in extending a trench 
from a point west of the highway east to the Albany & Boston con¬ 
glomerate, which exposed all the lodes for that distance. The trench 




PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


123 


long since caved in, but will most likely be reopened the coming sum¬ 
mer. Two shafts were sunk on the Albany & Boston lode, each to the 
second level. A fairly good showing of copper was revealed, and this 
lode will likely be given attention by the new company later on. 

The recent explorations on the property began in the fall of 1898, 
when what is now known as No. 1 shaft was started on the Pewabic 
lode, at a point 270 feet north of the south boundary. This shaft is 7x18 
feet inside timbers and contains two skip ways and a pipe and ladder 
way. Its present depth is 50 feet, and at an additional depth of 100 feet 
drifts will be driven north and south. The lode is of a very healthy 
character, and contains quartz, spar and red oxide. 

The copper is well distributed, from good stamp rock to small 
masses. The lode traverses the entire length of the property and dips 
at an angle of 54 degrees. The width of the lode at the bottom of the 
shaft is about nine feet, which is much wider than as found near sur¬ 
face. An order has been placed for a new hoist for this shaft and a 
compressor of 10-drill capacity, of the Rand pattern, is furnishing com¬ 
pressor power. Shaft No. 2 will be started at a point about 1,000 feet 
north of No. 1, early this spring. 

It is the intention of the company to thoroughly explore the sev¬ 
eral lodes on the property the coming summer at various points, and if 
results warrant this additional shafts will be started. The company 
was organized in December, 1898, with a capital of $2,500,000, divided 
into 100,000 shares of a par value of $25 each; $500,000 of the capital 
has been paid in. 

The eastern. office of the company is in New York. Thomas F. 
Mason is president; William R. Todd, secretary and treasurer. Of¬ 
ficers at the mine are: S. B. Harris, superintendent; John L. Harris, 
mining engineer; E. D. Johnson, clerk; Thomas Whittle, mining cap¬ 
tain. 


Otieco Copper gompany. 

The Oneco Copper Company was organized in Boston, Dec. 20,1898, 
with a capital of $2,500,000, divided into 100,000 shares having a par 
value of $25. John C. Watson, Charles G. Lengfest, Wm. F. Fitzgerald, 
George N. Towle and Wesley Clark are the board of directors. No cash 
has been paid in, and while the location of the company’s lands has not 
been given out, it is understood that the organization has in view devel¬ 
opment of the Hungarian, or Fitzgerald, and adjoining lands, located a 
short distance east of the Rhode Island, in sections 2, 3 and 10, 



124 COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OE LAKE SUPERIOR. 


Cbe Copper Range. 

By far the most important industrial enterprise started in the cop¬ 
per region of Michigan within the past thirty years is that undertaken 
by the Copper Range company, which was organized to develop a vast 
stretch of valuable mineral territory south of Houghton and build the 
Copper Range railroad. This great mining and railroad project origi¬ 
nated with Houghton and Boston capitalists, and the organization of 
the company was effected January 24, of the current year. 

The Copper Range company owns about- 11,000 acres of vir¬ 
gin mineral territory on the copper range between Houghton and On¬ 
tonagon. Exploratory work on these lands is about to start under the 
direction of Hr. L. L. Hubbard, late state geologist, who is particularly 
well informed as to their mineral character. It is confidently expected 
that several valuable copper mines will be developed on these lands, 
and the belief is fully warranted by the results thus far secured on 
mineral lands adjoining. The Copper Range company’s lands are trav¬ 
ersed by all of the master lodes that have made Michigan famous as a 
producer of native copper, and it is scarcely too much to say that had 
transportation facilities been supplied the South Range years ago, it 
would now be dotted with prosperous mines and villages, instead of 
just entering on the initial steps of its development. 

The company has a working capital of $250,000 set aside especially 
for the development of its mineral lands, and the explorations will be 
conducted in an intelligent and systematic manner. Its capital stock 
is divided into 100,000 shares, of the usual par value. It commenced 
operations with $1,000,000 in the treasury. The main office is in Bos¬ 
ton. The officers are: William A. Paine, president; Fred Stanwood, 
secretary and treasurer; Dr. L. L. Hubbard, local manager. 

The Copper Range Railroad company is parent of the Copper Range 
company, and its value to the copper district, opening, as it will in a 
few months, a stretch of over 30 miles of mining lands which have re¬ 
mained unexplored for years, is beyond computation. For years the needs 
of this district had been urged on the attention of the trunk lines in 
the hope that they would tap its valuable timber and mineral territory, 
but a deaf ear was turned to every plea made until the plan of the com¬ 
bined railroad and land company was conceived, with the result that 
the line will be built, and equipped with the most modern rolling stock, 
without the issuance of bonds or the borrowing of a dollar. The suc¬ 
cess of the enterprise from a financial standpoint is easily assured, as 
the road will serve the entire chain of mines from Greenland to Hough¬ 
ton; these including the mines of Ontonagon, the Winona, Arctic, 
Wyandot, Kaukauna, Tri-mountain, Baltic, possibly the Atlantic, of 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 125 

Houghton county, and the many others that will he developed after 
the territory through which the road is to be built is provided with 
transportation facilities. 

The company let the contract for construction of the line from 
Greenland, in Ontonagon county, to Houghton, a distance of 41 miles, 
on April 3, of this year. The work is to be completed October 20 of the 
current year, when Houghton county will be afforded a second outlet 
to the outer world, as connections with the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. 
Paul road will be made at Greenland. Arrangements for a survey from 
Houghton to Calumet are being made at this writing, while the steel 
rails for this piece of track have already been purchased. Contracts 
have been let by the company for locomotives, cars, etc., all of which 
are to be of the very latest design and best construction. 

The particular mission of the railroad may be said to be to aid in 
the development of the mining lands through which it will pass. The 
officers of the railroad company are: James H. Seager, president; 
William A. Paine, vice-president; Fred Stanwood, secretary and treas¬ 
urer. The general offices of the company are at Houghton. C. A. 
Wright is general manager, and Thomas Appleton chief engineer. 


Onondaga Eand and €opper Company. 

This company’s property is located south of the Isle Royale, and is 
a continuation of the Isle Royale mineral belt, extending through the 
village of Houghton to the shore of Portage Lake. The Albion Mining 
company conducted operations on this property as early as 1853. In 
1857 work was suspended and the mine remained idle until purchased 
in 1860 by the Columbian company, when work was resumed in June of 
that year. In 1864 the name was changed to the Shelden & Columbian, 
and the location extended to Portage Lake. The product obtained in 
1865 was 160,988 pounds of mineral, which yielded 71 £ per cent of refined 
copper. With the exception of some tributing, the property has been 
idle since 1870; and in this connection it might be stated that the tribu- 
tors were well repaid for their work, securing copper in good quantities. 
The property is a valuable one, owing to its pleasant location, and af¬ 
fords one of the best residence sites along the shore of Portage Lake. 
It passed into the hands of the new company within a very recent 
period. Permanent organization of the Onondaga Land and Copper 
company had not been effected at this writing. 



126 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


Ulyatidot Copper Company. 

The tract embraced in the holdings of the Wyandot Company com¬ 
prises 1,040 acres of mineral land lying immediately east of the Winona 
property. The tract is made np of the following parcels of land: The 
south half of section 16; all of section 21; the east half of the southeast 
quarter of section 20, township 52, north of range 36 west. 

The Winona lode passes diagonally across the tract, running a dis¬ 
tance of nearly one and three-fourths miles on the Wyandot’s land, and 
this property, like the Winona, is believed to carry most of the princi¬ 
pal copper-bearing lodes of the adjacent Ontonagon mines. Though 
the company organized to develop this property is of but very recent 
creation, it has the preliminary work well under way. Houses are be¬ 
ing erected and active preparation made to develop the property, 
under the direction of Dr. L. L. Hubbard as consulting engineer. 

The company was organized February 1, 1899, with a capital of 
$2,500,000, divided into 100,000 shares of a par value of $25 each. There 
has been paid in $800,000, of which $300,000 has been placed in the treas¬ 
ury, the balance having been applied to acquiring the property. The 
eastern office of the company is in Boston, and its officers are Henry 
Stackpole, president; William Otis Gay, secretary and treasurer. 
Matthew Yan Orden of Houghton is managing director. 

The proved richness of the Winona lode, on which there is a sink¬ 
ing within 700 feet of the line separating the two properties, gives all 
but absolute assurance of the value of the Wyandot. Development of 
the property will he energetically pushed from now on, under a capable 
management, and competent judges of the prospect for it predict that 
before the summer is far advanced the Wyandot will rank well up with 
the Winona in the list of new copper properties on the South range. 


South Range. 

The South Range Mining Company owns over 4,000 acres of min¬ 
eral land, which includes several tracts between the Atlantic mine on 
the north and Greenland on the south. March 4, 1899, the capitaliza¬ 
tion was increased to $2,500,000 and the number of shares to 100,000. 
The eastern office is in Boston. R. R. Goodell is president; F. W. 
Nichols secretary. No mining work is being done on the company’s 
lands at present. 



PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


127 


€be Kaukauna. 

The mineral lands of the Kaukauna Mining Company take in the 
Stonington and Shawmut (latterly the Everett) properties, with an 
adjoining section on the west the whole comprising sections 9 and 10 
in township 52, range 36 west, Houghton county, and forming a tract 
two miles in length by one in width on the South range, lying immedi¬ 
ately to the north of the Winona and Wyandot properties. Six mineral¬ 
bearing amygdaloid lodes are known to traverse the property, and 
according to the report on the district of the Michigan Geological Sur¬ 
vey the horizon of the Winona lode on the Kaukauna lands should 
bring the outcrop of the lode about 1,000 feet north of the southeast 
corner of the tract, 1,200 acres of which would thus have the underlay 
of that lode. In addition, there are five other copper-bearing lodes on 
the property, none of which have as yet been identified with the de¬ 
veloped lodes lying to the northward in Houghton county, and to the 
south westward in Ontonagon county. 

It is now believed, and with good reason, that the Winona lode 
and the Pewabic—on which latter the Quincy, Franklin and Franklin 
Junior mines have been developed, and on which the Rhode Island is 
being opened—are identical. This is known as the richest amygdaloid 
lode ever exploited in the district. The physical characteristics 
©f the Winona and Pewabic rock are so similar that specimens taken 
from the Winona and Quincy veins at points twenty-five miles apart 
have been found indistinguishable from one another by persons 
thoroughly familiar with the Quincy rock. 

During the middle sixties a considerable amount of mining work 
was done on the Everett, or Shawmut, property, two of the unidenti¬ 
fied amygdaloid lodes being sunk on, one by means of a shaft put down 
to a depth of approximately 200 feet on the dip of the lode, while the 
other was opened by means of an adit, driven a distance of about 80 feet. 
Both shaft and tunnel were in highly promising copper-bearing ground 
when operations were discontinued. The suspension of operations, 
notwithstanding the favorable showing, was because of the failure to 
find large masses of copper, the mining of the early days being devot¬ 
ed mainly to the exploitation of copper-bearing lodes containing the 
mineral in that form. Little attention was then paid to the opening 
of stamp lodes, especially in that district. 

The capital stock of the company is divided into 100,000 shares of a 
par value of $25 each. A cash working fund of $300,000 will be placed 
in the treasury for the development of the mine. 

The Copper Range Railroad, which is to be constructed during the 
present season, and contracts for which have already been let, will pass 


128 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


within a very short distance of the mine openings of the Kaukauna, 
and will furnish all needed facilities for handling copper rock, coal, 
lumber and miscellaneous freight, besides furnishing quick passenger 
communication between the mine and all important towns of the cop¬ 
per district, from Calumet to Ontonagon. Two favorably located 
stamp mill sites are now under consideration, at either of which 
the rock from the mine can be handled with the minimum of cost at 
the maximum of efficiency. 

The company will have substantially the same directorate and 
local management as the Mass Consolidated Mining Company. It is 
the intention of the management to begin the work of development at 
the earliest moment and to push it as rapidly as is consistent with 
thoroughness and good mining. 


Cltn River Copper mining Company. 

The latest Houghton county copper proposition launched is a com¬ 
pany that has acquired ownership of the Hussey-Howe and other lands 
lying east and northeast of the Kaukauna, and comprising in all some 
2,500 acres. The interests in control of the organization are the 
Standard Oil, St. Mary’s Canal and Centennial people. Harry F. Fay 
will, it is understood, be president of the company, and probably W. 
B. Mosman secretary and treasurer, while James Chynoweth will be 
Lake manager. The capitalization will be the usual 100,000 shares, 
with a par value of $25 each. There will be deposited in the treasury 
$600,000 for a working capital, which is ample evidence that the com¬ 
pany intends developing the property on a broad scale. This treasury 
fund is exceeded by that of but two of the newly organized companies, 
these being Isle Royale and Miners’. 

The rather historic Half-way House on the Ontonagon road is situ¬ 
ated on the lands of the company. The new company has every rea¬ 
son to look forward to the development of a profitable mine. The 
property has been carefully gone over by a corps of engineers and the 
various lodes have been traced. Some copper has been taken out, and 
the work of developing some of these lodes will be commenced at once. 
Orders have been placed for all the necessary machinery, and it is safe 
to say that the next few months will bring great results from the 
operations on this valuable property. 



PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


129 


Che Rancock. 

The mineral lands of the Hancock Mining Company consist of 160 
acres, located within the borders of the town of Hancock and west of 
the Quincy. The company, which was formerly the Summit, was or¬ 
ganized in 1859, and in 1862 its first production, amounting to 11 tons, 
was reported. Two shafts were opened on the property. These were 
intersected by adits extended into the hill side, which afforded drain¬ 
age for the mine. But little was done in 1863 and 1864. In 1865 the 
product reached about 100 tons. A period of idleness then ensued, 
until 1869, when operation of the mine was resumed in a small way. In 
1880 control of the property passed into the hands of Edward Ryan, of 
Hancock, who reorganized the company and changed its name to the 
Hancock. The mine was then equipped and placed in active operation, 
with the result that it yielded more copper the year following than 
during the entire period of its previous operation. The two shafts had 
been well extended and were furnishing a monthly product of from 45 
to 50 tons of copper. In 1885 the price of the metal had dropped to 10 
cents per pound. The company also found it would be necessary, 
in order to continue operations economically and upon a larger scale, to 
expend a quarter of a million dollars. The gloomy condition of the 
copper market was far from warranting such an outlay, and the mine 
was shut down and has since remained idle. The lode on the property 
is the same as that being wrought at the Quincy. A Assure vein which 
carries some copper crosses the south end of the property. The min¬ 
eral value of the property is established, the rock yielding at least 
one per cent of mineral. The office of the company is at Hancock. Ed¬ 
ward Ryan is president; August Mette, secretary and treasurer. 


South Side mining Company* 

The lands of the South Side company are located in section 34, 
a short distance west of the village of Houghton, and are traversed 
by the Quincy lode. The property has been idle many years. A reor¬ 
ganization of the company was effected April 11, 1899. The capital is 
$1,000,000, divided into 40,000 shares of a par value of $25 each. At 
the recent stockholders’meeting, held in Boston, Benjamin A. Lan- 
tiqua. acted as president, and Charles O. Burbanks as secretary and 
treasurer. ^ 



130 COPPER MINING INDUSTRY 6E LAKE SUPERIOR. 


Che miners’. 

The Miners’ Copper Company was organized under the laws of New 
Jersey, in February of the present year, with a capital of $2,500,000, di¬ 
vided into 100,000 shares of a par value of $25 each. The company’s 
mineral lands extend from the south boundary of the Isle Royale to the 
north boundary of the Baltic; the exact description of the lands has 
not been made public. Included in the company’s lands are the Frue 
and Dodge properties, upon which mining operations on a limited scale 
were conducted some thirty years ago. Since then nothing in the way 
of mining has been done. No. 10 shaft at the old Huron, which is 
located well up to the line of the Miners’, showed very well in copper. 

The amount paid in is $2,000,000, and the company will commence 
operations with a working capital of #1,000,000. Standard Oil capital 
is invested in this enterprise. The officials of the company have not 
yet been elected. 


Standard. 

The organization of the above company is under way at this writ¬ 
ing. The lands accredited to the company comprise 1,040 acres in 
sections 9, 16 and 17, in township 56 north, range 33 west. The loca¬ 
tion is west of the Tamarack. A conglomerate and several amygda¬ 
loid belts traverse the property. The company will be capitalized at 
$2,500,000. Stock is being offered at $15 per share, and it is stated that 
the company will begin operations with a working capital of $500,000. 
The Calumet conglomerate dips into the property and is presumed to 
underlie it at a depth of about two miles. 





PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


131 


Keweenaw bounty Properties* 


Hrnold mining Company* 

The mineral lands of the Arnold Mining Company are located north 
of the Greenstone and extend thence to the shore of Lake Superior. 
The total area is 3,323 acres, located in sections 1, 2, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 
15 and 23, town 58, ranges 30 and 31. The Arnold was operated in a 
small way in the early sixties, but it was not until 1892 that work was 
begun by the present management. Two years later the mine was 
shut down in consequence of the general business depression and rather 
gloomy outlook, but with improved conditions work was resumed in 
February, 1897. 

The property is traversed by more than a dozen fissure veins, many 
of which have produced large quantities of copper where opened in the 
past on other properties. These veins vary from 5 to 10 degrees from 
being due north and south in their course. 

The amygdaloid belts traversing the property have shown some 
productiveness when opened. Work on the Arnold property has, how¬ 
ever, been about wholly confined to what is commonly termed the ash- 
bed, a formation that traverses the company’s lands nearly east and 
and west, or about 15 degrees south of west, for a distance of about 
two and one-half miles, and dips under the bed of Lake Superior at an 
angle varying from 24 to 30 degrees. The ashbed is a very scoriaceous 
and comparatively thin lava flow, largely made up of clinkers and scor¬ 
iaceous masses, commonly described as an unstratified lava flow. From 
this lode and the Owl Creek fissure the Copper Falls mine, now part of 
the Arnold property, produced 1,200 tons of refined copper. 

The regular producing shaft at the mine is No. 1, which has a 
depth of 900 feet. The eight levels east and west are opened for dis¬ 
tances ranging from 80 to 700 feet. Last fall this shaft was equipped 
with a pair of Akron Corliss engines with cylinders 20" x 48", and a 
cone drum 8x12 feet, with 11-foot face, grooved to carry 3,500 feet of li- 
inch rope, and fitted with Lane’s clutch and brake; also a standard 



132 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


duplex Rand compressor with air cylinders 30i and 20 inches, respect¬ 
ively, and 3-foot stroke, capable of compressing 2,300 cubic feet of free 
air per minute. The boiler house contains three 120-horse power, 
safety-tube boilers, built by James Burt, at Ripley, and all necessary 
pumps«for feed and Are purposes. Sinking is under way at No. 2 shaft, 
which has a present depth of about 250 feet. The underground work¬ 
ings are not as yet connected with those of No. 1 shaft. 

The consolidation of the Arnold and Copper Falls properties occur¬ 
red in January, 1898, when the stock of the former was increased from 
40,000 to 60,000 shares, the additional 20,000 shares being applied to the 
purchase of the latter property. An assessment of $3 per share on the 
40,000 shares of Arnold stock was called at the time of consolidation, 
and with the funds thus obtained No. 1 shaft was equipped, the Cop¬ 
per Falls mill was put in working order and a railroad was built from 
the mine to the mill. The stamp mill is located two and one-fourth 
miles from the mine. The rolling stock with which the railroad is 
supplied consists of a Baldwin locomotive and 10 large-capacity rock 
cars. The stamp mill went into commission during the closing months 
of 1898, but the results were quite disappointing, as the rock, which it 
had been freely predicted would yield better than one per cent, yielded 
little better than three-fourths of that in mineral. The productive¬ 
ness varies from three-fourths to one per cent, while the mineral goes 
from 77 to 82 per cent of refined copper. The work at the Arnold has 
demonstrated the ashbed to be a low-grade producer, the successful 
handling of which would seem to require the treatment of large quanti¬ 
ties of rock under the most economic conditions. 

The success of the Humboldt, Ashbed and Meadow properties has 
been looked forward to as dependent on the results achieved at the 
Arnold, the ashbed traversing the entire group of properties, and all 
being practically under the same management. The consolidation of 
these properties, followed by extensive development and the erection 
of a modern stamp mill at Lake Superior, where large quantities of 
rock could be treated advantageously, is looked upon by many as the 
best course the companies can pursue. 

One head is working continuously at the Arnold stamp mill and 
one 12 hours out of 24. The present monthly product is placed at about 
50 tons of mineral. The capital of the Arnold is SI,500,000, divided 
into 60,000 shares of a par value of $25 each. The amount realized from 
assessments and transfer of property is $596,308. The main office is in 
Boston. W. F. Fitzgerald is president; John Brooks, secretary and 
treasurer. At the mine, Wesley Clark is superintendent and John 
Bennetts clerk. 



PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


133 


Zb* BUomz. 

The Allouez Mining Company owns about 300 acres in one body, in¬ 
cluding the forty acquired last year from the Canal company. The 
lands are situated in Keweenaw county, directly north of the Kearsarge 
branch of the Osceola. The company also owns, in addition, a l^vrge 
acreage somewhat scattered, and part of it on the mineral range. The 
property is traversed by the Allouez and Calumet conglomerate and 
Osceola and Pewabic amygdaloid belts. Former operations, which 
were quite extensive and covered a long period of time, were confined 
to the Allouez conglomerate. Three shafts were sunk to depths of 
about 1,700 feet each, but failure followed upon failure in consequence 
of the percentage of copper carried by the rock mined being too low. 
In 1890 some explorations were made on the Calumet conglomerate, but 
the lode was found poor and work was suspended. Last year a shaft 
was commenced on the Osceola lode, which is now down >250 feet. In 
sinking, and some drifting at the first level, a good lode was found, 
showing the same characteristics as where worked by the Osceola and 
Centennial companies, but thus far no copper ground of real value has 
been encountered. 

Last summer the territory west of the Allouez conglomerate was 
explored, exposing eight amygdaloid lodes. The Pewabic lode should 
run through this territory, if continuous, but the general character of 
this belt was not shown in any of the lodes opened. Further explora¬ 
tions will be conducted on the property the coming summer. The mine 
has a well-equipped stamp mill containing three heads, and machinery 
and general buildings to meet its present needs. 

The Allouez Mining Company was organized August 23, 1859. Its 
capital is 82,000,000, divided into 80,000 shares, of a par value of $25. 
The amount paid in is SI,536,000, and the company’s last report showed 
assets amounting to $50,204.38. The office is in Kew York. William 
C. Stuart is president; John Stanton, secretary and treasurer. Fred 
Smith is agent at the mine. 


Cbe Ulokawk* 

It can be said of the Mohawk that it makes a showing of copper at 
the two shafts being sunk on that property which has never been 
surpassed by development work on a copper vein in this district. 
The mine is easily accorded first place among the newly floated 



134 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OP LAKE SUPERIOR. 


properties, and the indications point strongly to its becoming a 
most valuable acquisition to the list of Lake producers. The acreage 
is large: the lode is that which is yielding so well at the Wolverine, 
and the company has looked well to the future in laying its plans so 
that the property may be worked to the very best advantage. 

The Mohawk property was formerly known as the Fulton. It 
comprises 800 acres of land, of which the lode underlies fully 600 acres. 
Tbfe tract is located in town 57, range 32 west, in Keweenaw county. 
The south side of the property borders nearly upon Houghton county. 
The Kearsarge amygdaloid lode is the only one thus far exposed on 
the company’s lands. This traverses the property for a distance of 
about 10,000 feet, or nearly two miles. 

Two years ago explorations were commenced on this property. 
Thirteen test pits were sunk, which exposed the lode on the north 
end for a distance of more than 4,000 feet. These pits at once at¬ 
tracted considerable attention from the fact that all of them showed 
great richness in copper. Active mining commenced on the property 
in November, 1898, when two shafts were started on the north side of 
the tract. The showing at each of these shafts from surface down is 
magnificent, and warrants the belief, generally entertained, that the 
mine will become a large producer. The lode varies in width from 15 
to 18 feet and dips at an angle of about 39 degrees. It is uniformly, 
and in places very richly, charged with copper. The shafts are being 
opened with all possible dispatch, and the coming summer will very 
likely see a start made on shafts Nos. 3 and 4. All the shafts will 
be 17x8 feet inside timbers, and each will contain two skipways, 
in addition to a ladder and pipe way. The mine will be devel¬ 
oped and placed in condition for active production at the earliest 
possible date, and with this end in view the company made an excel¬ 
lent move in purchasing the Hebard lake frontage, located on Big 
Traverse bay on the shore of Lake Superior, for a mill site; and also 
the railroad leading from that point to within three miles of the 
mine. Excellent sand room, dockage and rail facilities were thus 
secured. The advantages in the way of transportation are many, 
while the effect will be a cheapened cost and more extended lake sea¬ 
son of navigation than is offered shippers at Portage Lake. The dis¬ 
tance from the mine to the mill site is eleven miles. The road will 
be rebuilt and extended to the mine the coming summer, when work 
will be commenced on the construction of the company’s stamp mill. 

The company was organized November 2, 1898, with a capital of 
$2,500,000, divided into 100,000 shares of a par value of 825 each. The 
amount paid in is $750,000, and the last report showed assets amount¬ 
ing to $260,000. The company’s office is in New York. John Stanton 
is president and J. R. Stanton secretary and treasurer. Fred Smith 
is superintendent of the rnine, 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


135 


6ast mohawk* 

Arrangements for launching what will be known as the East 
Mohawk Copper Company are about perfected, though all the nego¬ 
tiations for the mineral lands to be embraced in the proposition had 
not been closed when this was written. But the lands absolutely se¬ 
cured make a magnificent mineral property. They lie immediately 
east of the Mohawk and carry both the Mohawk and Old Colony lodes. 
In addition to the Mohawk and Old Colony lodes, five other lodes— 
four amygdaloid and one conglomerate—cross the East Mohawk prop¬ 
erty, none of which have yet been worked on other properties to 
determine their value. They are of good width and may turn out 
to be a very valuable addition to the rich lodes already proved up. 
The East Mohawk territory already secured consists of all of section 
25; the east half of 26; the southeast quarter of 23; the south half of 
the northeast quarter of 23 and the south half of the southwest quar¬ 
ter of 24, town 57, range 32, the whole aggregating 1,280 acres of ex¬ 
cellently located mineral lands. Pending negotiations have in view 
the addition to this great holding of another very valuable tract of 
mineral territory, amounting to 960 acres, but even without this lat¬ 
ter tract the East Mohawk property is one of great prospective value. 

But little can be said of the proposition at this time beyond what 
is given above, except that the property will be in strong hands and 
will be developed under a management that will need no recommend¬ 
ation to the public beyond the mere announcement of the men who 
will compose it. The intention of the promoters is to organize the 
company at once and immediately proceed to develop the Mohawk and 
Old Colony lodes, the value of these having been already amply proven 
by work done on the Mohawk and Old Colony properties. 


€be Pbcenix Consolidated* 

The Phoenix Consolidated Copper Company owns 2,240 acres of min¬ 
eral lands, these embracing the old Phoenix, St. Clair and Garden City 
properties, with 185 acres on the lake front in addition. The proper¬ 
ty has a mile and a quarter frontage on Lake Superior, immediately 
adjoining the port of Eagle River. 

There are four fissure veins on the Phoenix property—the New 



136 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


Phoenix, Robbins, Butler and Armstrong, and it is also traversed by 
the Calumet conglomerate. 

The Phoenix Copper Company was an outgrowth of the old Lake 
Superior Copper Company, one of the pioneer corporations of the cop¬ 
per region, the originators of which were among the first to take out 
permits from the War Department after the extinguishment of the 
Indian title in 1843. Work was commenced the following year on the 
east bank of Eagle River. 

In 1845 a stamp mill, the first in the copper district, was built by 
the company, only to prove a failure in operation. During 1845 and 
1846, 550 tons of copper were produced. The main shaft had been sunk 
on a pocket of copper and silver, and in an effort to recover the vein a 
tunnel was run under the river at a depth of 90 feet from the top 
of the shaft. In this tunnel a crevice, filled with gravel and an accumu¬ 
lation that plainly showed the action of water, was encountered, and 
in a deeper hole, made by the current of the stream, mingled with 
other deposits, was found about 18,000 pounds of copper, and some 
silver. How much silver was never known, it having been largely ap¬ 
propriated by the miners, but one piece weighing nearly nine pounds, 
which is now in possession of the Philadelphia mint, was secured by 
the owners. 

In 1863 work was commenced on the Phoenix and Robbins veins 
south of the greenstone. Two years later the capital became exhaust¬ 
ed and the company was reorganized. That year the mine produced 
244,158 pounds of copper. In 1869 the yield was 400 tons, in 1870 500 
tons and in 1871 650 tons of refined copper. 

F. G. White was appointed agent in 1872, and in that year the pro¬ 
duction amounted to 728,359 pounds of refined copper, which sold at 
34.71 cents per pound. But even with such a price, the ignorance dis¬ 
played in handling this valuable mineral deposit made it impossible 
for the mine to earn the returns that it should have given on the 
money put into developing it. 

It may be truly said that the Phoenix suffered more from general 
mismanagement than any other mine operated in Keweenaw county. 
The history of all the work done clearly shows that, with anything like 
improved appliances and intelligent mining, great success, even in the 
past, could have been accomplished. As an example of this, it may be 
stated that at the sixth level the largest mass of copper ever taken 
from the earth—weighing a trifle over 600 tons—was found. It is well 
known, too, that before this mass was delivered to surface, more money 
had been expended in cutting it into convenient pieces and hoisting it 
than the value of the copper at 26 cents per pound amounted to; when, 
as a rule, less than a cent a pound added to the value of the copper 
chips obtained in cutting has always been considered a liberal allow- 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


137 


ance for cutting and handling copper masses of any size, where due re¬ 
gard has been paid to the openings and facilities for manipulation. 

That the mine had great possibilities of success may be seen from 
Charles E. Wright’s report as commissioner of mineral statistics for 
the year 1880. And while Mr. Wright was not able to cite all the facts, 
he shows that in the year 1876 alone the mine made a profit of $107,186. 
In this connection it can be said that from the years 1872 to 1877, dur¬ 
ing most of which time Captain W. E. Parnall, now superintendent of 
the Tamarack and Osceola Mining companies, had full charge of the 
underground work at the mine, the company paid off a debt of over 
$200,000, paid a dividend of $20,000 and accumulated a'surplus fund of 
$80,000. Further, it is well understood that a disagreement with ref¬ 
erence to the policy of mining between Captain Parnall and the super¬ 
intendent led to the former resigning his position; after which the 
same reckless disregard of all accepted methods of mining again placed 
the mine in the non-earning list. 

Aside from the splendid record the mine was able to make, under 
intelligent direction, on what is known as the mass fissure vein, a large 
number of well-charged copper-bearing amygdaloids were located by 
the extensions made on the fissure vein, (which is at right angles to 
the formation), which can be profitably worked, with a modern stamp 
mill to treat the rock. This is also true of the St. Clair. Another 
great feature of this property is the fact that Crocker shaft, being a 
vertical shaft, has almost attained the depth of intersection with the 
Calumet conglomerate and the other copper-bearing belts lying imme¬ 
diately under it. In fact, no more certain or legitimate plan of mining 
could be followed in the copper country today than the extension of the 
various levels south of Crocker shaft, which would inevitably tap all 
the well-known copper veins on the Calumet, Centennial, Wolverine, 
Kearsarge and Mohawk properties. All these veins run through the 
property and dip to an intersection with Crocker shaft. 

Physically, there is no property on the copper range that possesses 
such natural advantages from every conceivable point of mining as does 
that now owned by the Phoenix company. A gentle grade of less than 
two miles leads to the town of Eagle River on Lake Superior, where 
the most perfect mill sites in the world can be secured. Midway be¬ 
tween, or about one mile from the lake, is situated what is known as the 
ashbed vein, on which the Arnold mine is now doing active mining, 
and on which the Phoenix mined exclusively for a number of years. 
This is a well-defined and persistent scoriaceous amygdaloid, and in cer¬ 
tain stretches carries copper of high grade. In no place where mining 
has been done on this belt has more copper been produced to the cubic 
fathom than on this property. A trial drift was run in from surface 
east of what is known as Eagle river, and subsequent stoping to the 


138 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


amount of over 2,000 tons of rock yielded better than 2 per cent of min¬ 
eral; and while no claim is made that the mile and a quarter in length 
on which this well-known vein traverses the property will show vein 
matter of that richness, it is nevertheless a fact that the best mining 
men on Lake Superior are strongly of the opinion that with up-to-date 
methods this master lode, or vein, can be made one of the most lasting 
producers of the Lake Superior region, and that, too, with certain pay¬ 
ing results with copper at 10 cents per pound. In no place has this 
vein been opened and worked where it was not found to average more 
copper to the ton of rock than the Atlantic mine, and in no place else 
where it has been opened do the physical advantages for cheap mining 
compare with those existing on this property. 

Contracts are being let for the necessary mining equipment and 
work will be commenced on the property at once. The corporation has 
100,000 shares of a par value of $25 per share. Of the capital, $800,000 
has been paid in and $300,000 placed in the treasury for development 
purposes. John R. Stanton is president of the company, which will 
have its main office in New York. 


Cbe Conglomerate* 

The lands of the Conglomerate Mining Company comprise about 
21,000 acres, and include the old Northwest, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
Mendota, New Jersey, Maryland and Wyoming properties. The com¬ 
pany was organized in October, 1880, and commenced work on its lands 
the year following. Money was spent lavishly in surface improvements, 
the amount expended during the first year being no less than $360,000. 
The following year a stamp mill was built at Lac La Belle, together 
with docks, etc., and a railroad seven miles in length was constructed. 
Operations were confined largely to the conglomerate lode, and the re¬ 
sult was a sad disappointment, as well as a lesson, inasmuch as it 
showed the glaring folly of putting in a complete mine equipment be¬ 
fore the value of the property was demonstrated. 

Several amygdaloid lodes traverse the property, and work on these 
was begun last winter, after the mine -was understood to have been 
sold to the Pawnee Mining Company, a new organization. The con¬ 
summation of the sale was, however, interfered with by S. A. Witherby, 
of Detroit, who claimed to have a prior option and was ready to close 
the deal under its terms. The company owns a large quantity of timber, 
a number of new dwellings, and a mine equipment valued at more than 
$600,000. In the event of mining being resumed, operations will be con¬ 
fined to the amygdaloid veins, 



PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


139 


north Cliff. 

The mineral lands of the "North Cliff Mining Company, 1,0261 acres, 
lie in Keweenaw county, and are traversed by the ashbed, which runs 
in a northeasterly direction at the south boundary line of the property, 
and dips in a northwesterly direction toward Lake Superior. The fis¬ 
sure vein which crosses the ashbed, at nearly a right angle, is a con¬ 
tinuation of the main Cliff vein which yielded such remarkable results 
at the Cliff mine. This fissure vein passes through the property in a 
northwesterly direction and is believed to cross several amygdaloid 
lodes that run parallel to the ashbed. The lodes dipping to the north 
would give the property extensive workings. The property is fairly 
covered with pine and hardwood, which can be used for fuel and mining 
purposes; it has over one mile of frontage on Lake Superior, thus giv¬ 
ing it ample mill room. 

Mining work was inaugurated at the North Cliff in 1858, and con¬ 
tinued until 1866. An adit 1,700 feet in length was extended, and con¬ 
nects with the surface at the south end through an incline shaft sunk 
on the ashbed. At a distance 300 feet further south No. 4 shaft was 
sunk about 225 feet. North of No. 4 shaft 765 feet No. 2 shaft was 
sunk to a depth of about 340 feet, and north of this shaft 350 feet No. 
1 shaft was sunk about 95 feet, or a little below the adit level. The 
incline shaft was sunk on the ashbed to the adit level, which was 
driven on a fissure vein crossing the ashbed at right angles. 

At the intersection of the incline shaft with the adit level a drift 
was driven northeasterly on the ashbed about 50 feet. From No. 2 
shaft south to the incline shaft on the ashbed considerable stoping was 
done in the adit level. Midway between No. 2 shaft and the incline 
shaft a winze was sunk from the adit to the 20-fathom level and some 
stoping was done at the 10-fathom level. The latter was driven south 
25 feet from No. 2 shaft to connect with the winze, while the 20-fathom 
level was driven south from No. 2 shaft through the Ashbed about 540 
feet to connect with No. 4 shaft. The bulk of this work was for the 
purpose of developing the ashbed and fissure veins. The ashbed where 
opened shows a width of about 20 feet and the fissure about four feet. 
Both veins look strong and healthy. 

The work done in this mine showed the fissure vein to be produc¬ 
tive in mass and barrel work, and the ashbed in stamp rock. In well- 
informed mining circles the opinion is held that enough development 
work has been done at this property to establish that with proper 
mining appliances and good management it can be worked at a profit. 
The commissioner of mineral statistics for the year 1880 said, 


140 COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


among other things, relative to this property: “In the year 1880 the 
Cliff Copper Company, under the management of O. A. Farwell, sank 
two shafts on the ashbed to a depth of 50 feet, and developments are 
declared to be extraordinarily good, the ashbed showing an unusual 
width and a more than average richness. This work was done on the 
Cliff property on the southwest quarter of section 25, adjacent to the 
eastern boundary of the North Cliff property. Captain James Sowden, 
who was in charge of the development work at the North Cliff property 
from 1861 to 1866, says: ‘ The fissure vein at the North Cliff mine has 
the appearance of the old Cliff vein at the 160-fathom level, which 
changes from an east to a west dip as it does at the North Cliff. We 
mined quite a quantity qf small masses and barrel work, and indica¬ 
tions pointed to a continuance of good copper when operations ceased. 
We sank the incline shaft on the ashbed and found it much richer 
than at the Phoenix mine.’” An early resumption of operations at 
this property is confidently looked forward to. 


Cbc Jfsbbed* 

Located between the old Copper Falls on the east and the Arnold 
on the west is the mineral territory of the Ashbed Mining Company, 
comprising 1,143 acres in sections 2, 3, 10,11,14 and 15, tow n 58, range 31. 
Operations were first commenced here in 1861 by the Petherick Mining 
Company, and were continued a few years. In 1873 the company pur¬ 
chased the stamp mill of the Indiana Company and the following year 
shipped 141,199 pounds of refined copper. Lack of water made it im¬ 
possible to operate the stamp mill steadily the year through, and 
ultimately brought about a suspension of operations. 

The Ashbed Mining Company was reorganized in 1880, when opera¬ 
tions were resumed, but with a lack of capital and equipment, and the 
result was a repetition of the previous experience. The property is 
traversed by the ashbed lode for a distance of a mile. It also con¬ 
tains several fissure veins from which mass copper in considerable 
quantities has been taken. The general description of the Arnold ap¬ 
plies to this property as regards the ashbed. The company has a 
number of men prospecting on the property with fairly good results. 
The fissure veins on the property are believed to be quite valuable. 

The capital of the company is $1,000,000, divided into 40,000 shares 
of a par value of $25 each. The amount paid in is $20,000. The main 
office is in Boston. Josiah Oakes is president; John Brooks, secre¬ 
tary and treasurer. Wesley Clark is mine superintendent and John 
Bennetts clerk. 



PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


141 


Cbe Central. 

While the hum of renewed activity prevailed throughout the en¬ 
tire extent of the copper range the past year, the cessation of min¬ 
ing at but one property was noted, and this the Central, after an active 
career of more "than half a century, the company having been organiz¬ 
ed November 15,1854. The lode was opened on the property for a dis¬ 
tance of over 3,000 feet, by five shafts. The vein is a vertical fissure, 
and was discovered in 1854. During the year succeeding, 84£ tons of 
mineral, which yielded 80 per cent of ingot copper, was secured. In 
1855 the net earnings of the company were more than $7,000. This is 
notable from the fact that it is the first instance of a copper mine be¬ 
ing opened in this district that produced and sold during the first 
year’s operations enough copper to more than pay all the company’s 
expenses for the year. 

For some time prior to the suspension of operations last summer, 
work was confined to the seventeenth, nineteenth, twentieth and 
twenty-first levels south of No. 2 shaft, in which direction the com¬ 
pany has a large territory. During the last few years the mine has been 
worked at a loss. Hope was entertained that a change for the bet¬ 
ter in the physical conditions would 5 take place; but, instead, the out¬ 
look became more discouraging and the mine was closed. 

The company’s mining lands are located in section 23, township 58, 
range 31. It owns in all 21,000 acres of mineral land, part of which is 
traversed by a number of amygdaloid belts, and it will be no surprise 
if operations are resumed and the company turns its attention to the 
development of some of these lodes the coming summer. 

The mine has a large equipment, including a stamp mill contain¬ 
ing 24 heads of Cornish stamps. It has a capital of $500,000, divided 
into 20,000 shares of a par value of $25 each. The amount paid in is 
SI00,000 and the stockholders have received dividends aggregating 
$1,980,000. The company’s last report shows assets amounting to $20,- 
000. The main office is in New York. Joseph E. Gay is president; 
John Stanton, secretary and treasurer. Frank McM. Stanton of At¬ 
lantic is agent of the mine. 


Cbe mintbrop* 

The Winthrop Mining Company worked a fissure vein on the south¬ 
west quarter of section 23 and west half of section 26, township 58, 
range 30, immediately west of the Central. About $90,000 was expend¬ 
ed there in 1852 without bringing the expected results. 



142 COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


meadow mining Company* 

Lying directly west of the Humboldt, and bordering on the shore 
of Lake Superior, is the tract of mineral lands of the Meadow Mining 
company, its holding being 3644 acres in sections 17 and 20, town 55, 
range 31. The property was worked to some extent on a Assure vein 
forty years ago. It is traversed by the ashbed for about half a 
mile and on this lode mining was commenced by the present com¬ 
pany last fall. A shaft 124x64 feet, in which there is a good showing 
of copper, is well under way. The lode is similar to that at the Ar¬ 
nold in character. The company has just completed an engine house, 
shaft house and an employees’ dwelling. At the engine house is a 
double hoist with 9"x 12" cylinders and grooved drum, Atted with 
Lane’s clutch and brake, which will wind 540 feet of three-fourth-inch 
rope. In addition there is also a Rand compressor, 14"x22" cylinders, 
and a 50-horse power boiler and pumps. The capital of the company 
is $1,500,000, divided into 60,000 shares of a par value of $25 each. The 
amount paid in is $75,000. The eastern office is in Boston. W. F. 
Fitzgerald is president and John Brooks secretary and treasurer. 
The mine officers are, Wesley Clark, superintendent, and John Ben¬ 
netts, clerk. 


Cbe iUasbingiotn 

The Washington Mining Company owns 1,004 acres of mineral lands 
in town 58, range 29, which are traversed the entire length by the 
group of ashbeds, and south of these a distance of 600 feet by the 
Pewabic lode. 

Mining operations were commenced on the property July 5, 1898. 
Considerable trenching was done and a shaft was sunk 30 feet on the 
Michigan Assure, which discloses a promising vein. An adit 35 feet in 
length was driven on the Medora Assure, which also offers encourage¬ 
ment, and work will be resumed at these points in a month or so. The 
Pewabic lode will also be investigated, and orders have been placed for 
considerable machinery with which to conduct extensive operations 
the coming summer. 

A reorganization of the company is receiving attention at this 
writing and it is expected that the present capital of $1,000,000 will be 
increased to 82,500,000, and the number of shares from 40,000 to 100,000, 
In this event a large amount will be placed in the treasury. 



PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


143 


Cbe RumbolcU. 

The Humboldt property lies to the west of the Arnold, and com¬ 
prises 1,1631 acres situated in sections 16 and 21, in township 58, range 
31. The lands carry the ashbed lode for a distance of a mile, and on 
this formation mining operations were bpgun during the sum¬ 
mer of 1898. The showing is fully as good at the shaft under way, if 
not better, than in either shaft at the Arnold. 

A shaft, house and engine house have been erected, and a hoisting 
engine, compressor, boiler and pumps are installed. The company has 
also erected a blacksmith shop and several dwellings. 

The capital of the company is SI,000,000, divided into 40,000 shares 
of a par value of $25 each. There has been obtained from assess¬ 
ments and real estate $232,683.76. John C. Watson is president and 
John Brooks secretary and treasurer, with offices in Boston. Wesley 
Clark is mine superintendent and John Brooks clerk. 


Cbe Jlbmeek. 

The mineral lands of the Ahmeek Mining Company comprise 920 
acres lying directly w r est of the Mohawk, and carrying the underlay of 
the rich Kearsarge vein that is being opened on the latter property; a 
fact that will likely lead to a resumption of operations on the property 
ere long. Two shafts were sunk there in the early eighties, but the 
results were unsatisfactory and work was abandoned. 


Cagle Rarbor mining Company. 

The Eagle Harbor Mining Company owns a tract of land about 
two miles long and a mile and a half wide, located south of the village 
of Eagle Harbor. It embraces the properties formerly owned by the 
Eagle Harbor and Waterbury Companies, and is traversed by the ash¬ 
bed lode, as well as several amygdaloid belts. Some mining work was 
done on the property from 1850 to 1854, and of late there has been 
some exploratory work done on the tract. 




COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


144 


Zbc St Clair* 

The St. Clair Mining Company owns 138 acres of land adjoining the 
Phoenix on the west and the Eagle River property on the east. In 
1863 the company started operations on a fissure vein about 10 inches 
wide. Shafts were sunk on the southern slope of the greenstone and 
the rock was trammed to the old mill at the foot of the bluff. 

The company erected a stamp mill with 12 heads in 1872. The 
panic of 1873 came soon after its completion, work was suspended, and 
the property went into the hands of the creditors, who held it until 
1879, when the company was reorganized with $1,000,000 of capital. A 
small assessment was levied and operations were continued for some 
time in a crude and primitive manner, but without satisfactory 
results. 

The capital stock of the company is divided into 40,000 shares. 


Star mining Company* 

The territory of the Star Mining Company consists of the east 
half of section 9, town 58, range 28. In 1851 the company commenced 
operations on a fissure vein south of the greenstone and continued its 
explorations there until 1857, when two shafts had been sunk, one to 
a depth of 300 feet, and $70,000 expended. Work was then abandoned. 




PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


145 


Ontonagon Bounty Properties* 


In the years gone by the only form of copper which possessed any 
commercial value were the large pieces known as mass copper, and the 
barrel copper. This was due to the inability of the miners of that day 
to economically treat the rock for the separation from it of the copper. 
The only form of stamp mill then used was the small drop stamp of 
from 800 to 1,000 pounds weight, which had a capacity of from one and 
one-half to two tons per twenty-four hours. 

A few of these mills were located in Ontonagon county, but as a 
rule were placed at the mines, where the only available water was such 
as was collected in dams, the result being, in nearly every case, that 
such mills could not run more than one-tenth of the time and proved 
commercial failures. Only a very small proportion of the stamp rock 
in these mines, and that of the richest, was treated. The criticism 
which applies to the mill practice at that time will also apply to all 
branches of the mining then done. Compressed air and power drills 
were used in only a few instances; high explosives came into use but 
a short time before the mines suspended operations, and in the major¬ 
ity of cases the hoisting and other machinery was of the poorest des¬ 
cription. These criticisms are not directed against the management 
of these mines at that time, but against the then universal practice of 
attempting large mining operations with little or no working capital, 
relying on the output of the mine to equip the property and meet 
all the cost of operating it. That these properties, under such adverse 
conditions, were able to carry on work year after year, in some cases 
even accumulating a surplus, is surprising, and indicates what they 
will be capable of doing under modern methods and with a large work¬ 
ing capital at their command. 

It would be of no special interest to investigate the methods of min¬ 
ing and milling employed by these old companies, for it is a thing of 
the past and has given way to more modern practices in all branches; 
neither would an examination of the old accounts, showing costs, etc., 

be of much use, save to satisfy one’s curiosity. The old companies 

10 



146 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


labored under serious disadvantages of all kinds, the greatest of these, 
perhaps, being the lack of adequate working capital. All these old 
companies practically ceased operations about 1883, and it is since 
then that the greatest strides in the copper industry, such as the 
marked improvement in the methods of stamping and concentra¬ 
tion of product, with the consequent reduction of cost, have been 
made. The old Ridge mine accounts show, for example, that the cost of 
stamping ran as high as $2.25 per ton of rock, while a recent report 
of mines in Keweenaw county for the year 1898 shows the cost for 
stamping, per ton of rock treated, to be less than 25 cents. One thing 
which is, perhaps, more responsible than anything else for the great 
reduction in costs of all kinds is the magnitude with which such ope¬ 
rations are at present conducted. 

A brief outline of the formation and character of the veins in which 
the copper occurs in the mines of Ontonagon county will possess interest 
and value as an introduction to the descriptive treatment of the prop¬ 
erties in the succeeding pages. 

The trap belt, which is locally known as the “copper belt”, passes 
from the northeastern extremity of Keweenaw Point in a gen¬ 
eral southwesterly direction through the counties of Ontonagon and 
Gogebic into the state of Wisconsin. This trap belt in Ontonagon 
county is from two and one-half to four miles wide, and includes sever¬ 
al amygdaloid, and at least two or three conglomerate, beds. The gen¬ 
eral strike of these veins is that of the trap belt, northeast and south¬ 
west, and the dip is to the northwest at an angle approximating 46 de¬ 
grees. Five well defined amygdaloid veins which pass through the 
properties in this county were formerly worked, and these are the only 
ones which at present possess any importance. Each of these five veins 
is locally known by the name of the property on which it received the 
greatest development. Thus, the most southerly one of the group is 
known as the Evergreen; the next to the north the Ogima; next the But¬ 
ler, or Champion; next the Mass, and the most northerly the Knowlton. 
The general strike and dip of these veins is the same, but some work 
done on the Mass property indicates a possibility that the Mass, But¬ 
ler and Ogima veins may possibly come together at some depth, there 
being a slight convergence in the dip of these three. Still this is only 
a probability, as a local change in the foot-wall of the veins may be the 
cause of this apparent convergence. 

Native silver and the usual minerals, such as epidote, calcite, etc., 
are associated with the copper in these veins. The copper occurs in 
.large masses, these sometimes being as much as several hundred tons 
in weight; in small masses called “barrel copper”, and it is also dissemi¬ 
nated through the vein material in fine condition, this being known 
as “stamp rock”. 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


147 


There is much speculation at present regarding the percentage of 
copper which the Ontonagon veins carry. On this point Mr. E. A. 
Wetmore of Marquette, a consulting engineer of high standing, who 
recently made an exhaustive examination of the Mass Consolidated 
property for the Boston Stock Exchange, preliminary to the listing 
of the company’s stock on that exchange, says, in the course of his 
report: 

“There is, perhaps, no question of greater importance, or one 
harder for an engineer to determine, in relation to a native copper 
property, than the average percentage of metal that the rock will 
carry, and this is particularly true of veins which are classed as ‘mass’ 
veins. The only way to even approximate the true percentage is by 
an actual test on a large quantity of the rock. Owing to the condi¬ 
tions surrounding these mines it was impossible to do this, but in 
looking over the old books and accounts of the different companies I 
was fortunate enough to find data of actual work extending over a num¬ 
ber of years, which gives this result in a satisfactory manner. By tak¬ 
ing from these statements the total number of cubic feet of rock broken 
each year, and the total number of pounds of copper produced, I was 
able, for the years in which these accounts were kept, to give, approx¬ 
imately, the percentage of copper. Thus, in 1869 I found the per¬ 
centage to be 2.31; in 1870, 2.70; in 1872, 1.96; in 1873, 1.65; in 1876, 
2.62, and in 1877, 2.25. These results are for the old Ridge mine. At 
the Mass the accounts were not kept in the same manner, but I was 
able to arrive at a result of 2.32 per cent, which is probably nearly 
correct, as it agrees very closely with the Ridge results. Whatever 
difference there may be between the percentage of copper in the 
Ridge and Mass probably results from the fact that the Mass mine 
had a small stamp mill of its own, and did not confine its operations 
to as rich, selected ground as the Ridge. In the future workings of 
these properties the percentage of copper will necessarily be reduced 
from the fact that in conducting operations on a so much larger scale 
great quantities of lower grade rock will be stamped. This, while re¬ 
ducing the percentage will, at the same time, increase the product.” 

All the records of the operations of the old companies which worked 
mines in Ontonagon county years ago—before the properties could be 
provided with proper transportation facilities, and while modern 
methods of mining, handling and treating the rock were either un¬ 
known or in the experimental stage of their application—go to estab¬ 
lish that they will prove wonderful producers when afforded the ad¬ 
vantages that were then denied them, and backed, as they now will 
be, by ample capital. It is entirely safe to predict that the movement 
for the development of these properties which has sprung from the 
present demand and high price for copper will bring, as one of its 


148 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


results, the creation of a valuable copper mining industry in Ontonagon 
county, with a group of producers established on a solid basis there 
which will make a marvelous showing as dividend-earners in the very 
near future. 


Hdvenfure Consolidated mining Company* 

The . renewal of mining operations on the Evergreen range in 
Ontonagon county was inaugurated by the Adventure Consolidated 
Mining Company. The lands of the company consist of 1,506 acres of 
mineral territory, and include the old Hilton, Adventure and Knowl- : 
ton properties, which in the past produced copper in quantities suffi¬ 
cient to justify the new company in taking hold of and working them 
on a large scale, employing modern methods. 

All the known veins of the South Range, otherwise known as the 
“Evergreen Range”, run through these properties. Among them may 
be mentioned, in their order from north to south, the Knowlton, 
Mass, Champion (or Butler), Ogima and Evergreen, each well defined \ 
and productive of copper, not only where opened in the above mines, I 
but also on adjoining properties. The dip of the lodes which inter¬ 
sect these properties is about 45 degrees. In the old Knowlton mine 
the strike is north 43 degrees east, while in the Adventure and Hilton 
it bends to north 75 degrees east. 

The Knowlton company was originally organized in 1853. The 
shafts sunk on this vein never reached any greater depth than 240 feet. : 
The mine had produced down to 1866 about $240,000 worth of copper. 
For several years after it was worked at a profit by tributors, who ex¬ 
tracted large quantities of copper under- the old system of mining. 
The underground openings comprise three shafts on the Knowlton 
vein. No. 1 was 100 feet deep, and the other shafts 240 and 200 re¬ 
spectively. The veins outcrop along the high bluff on the Knowlton 
diagonally across the section for a distance of about a quarter of a 
mile, while, owing to a divergence of the boundary lines at a depth of 
2,000 feet, the levels could be opened for more than a mile in length. 

The Knowlton vein was first opened on this property; it has a 
width ranging from twelve to twenty-eight feet, and is considered the 
best of the Evergreen Range lodes. The matrix of the vein is epidote, 
quartz, calcite, chlorite, etc., and the copper occurs in the form of 
heavy masses, as well as stamp rock, the proportion being about one- 
third of the former and two-thirds of the latter. Operations have not 



PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


149 


as yet been commenced on the Knowlton branch by the new company, 
but it will undoubtedly receive attention in the near future. 

The Adventure is one of the oldest mining properties in the On¬ 
tonagon district. It began in 1850 with a capital stock of $200,000, 
divided into 1,000 shares. Desultory work was done for years under 
primitive methods on the Butler vein, from which more or less heavy 
copper was taken, and within the past year tributors have taken out a 
twenty-four ton mass from these openings. About nine years ago the 
old Adventure company sank a shaft on the Knowlton vein to a depth 
of about 200 feet on the property and drifted about 100 feet on each 
side on the second level. This work exposed some very rich ground. 
But owing to the lack of facilities for systematic mining, and the then 
low price of copper, work was suspended and the mine allowed to fill 
with water. About two months ago this part of the mine was un¬ 
watered and heavy masses of copper are now to be seen lining the roof 
and sides of the levels above referred to. These levels are now being 
extended east and west, and about 1,400 feet eastward Ho. 2 shaft is 
being sunk from surface near the point of the bluff. All along from 
the western boundary to Ho. 2 shaft, a distance of about 2,500 feet, 
the vein has been well explored by numerous pits and other openings, 
in all of which its character is about the same as in the first shaft. 
Operations will commence on the Butler lode during the coming 
month or so, by which time the necessary mining machinery will have 
been installed. This vein is 400 feet south of the Knowlton lode on the 
Adventure, and is more properly a mass copper formation, carrying 
also a very large proportion of silver. 

An adit level on the Butler vein, commenced at the point of the 
bluff and extending westward, would open up about 2,500 feet of vein 
with backs 300 feet high. On this property eastward but little explor¬ 
atory work has been done. However, a few pits have been opened 
which disclose the same lode characteristics as are found on the west¬ 
ern part of the property. 

The work will be prosecuted extensively and with vigor on the 
Knowlton vein, owing to its large proportion of stamp rock, while the 
other veins will be worked in connection with it and reached through 
adits and cross-cuts. No. 1 shaft on the Knowlton vein, above referred 
to, is located 1,000 feet east of the Ridge boundary and the lode at this 
portion of the mine appears to be as well charged with copper as at any 
other point on the property. 

The eastern portion of the Adventure Consolidated comprises the 
Hilton property. The old company was organized in 1863, when a 
couple of small shafts were sunk on what is supposed to be the Mass 
vein. Later tributors sunk shafts on the Knowlton vein, which pro¬ 
duced about the same proportion of copper as was found in this lode 


150 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


on other properties. No machinery was introduced at the Hilton, 
and the only hoisting apparatus ever used was a horse-whim, or man¬ 
power. The developments made by these crude means proved the un¬ 
doubted mineral value of the property, and it will now receive proper 
attention with modern mining appliances; 

All the veins traverse the old Adventure and Hilton properties for 
a distance of about two miles, and shafts can be sunk for about a mile 
before reaching the boundary line. 

The Adventure Consolidated mines are situated in Greenland town¬ 
ship, the works being about half a mile from tfhe village of Maple 
Grove. Railroad connections are furnished by the Chicago, Milwau¬ 
kee & St. Paul railway, the nearest point being at Greenland station, 
about two miles distant. A branch will be extended from this road to 
the mine the coming summer. The Copper Range railroad, to be built 
this year, will likely have its southern terminus at Greenland. 

Work at the Adventure was commenced by the new company in 
November last. Plans have been matured and machinery has been or¬ 
dered for opening and working the mine on a large scale. Offices and 
shops have been built and a number of dwelling and mine buildings 
are in process of construction. An admirable mill site on the shore of 
Lake Superior, about four miles east of Ontonagon, has been purchas¬ 
ed. By the time the new stamp mill is built the mine openings will be 
sufficiently advanced to supply it with a full quota of rock. 

The local officers are Samuel B. Harris, general manager; B. F. 
Chynoweth, superintendent; Thomas Trevarrow, mining captain. 

The company was organized October 17, 1898, with a capital of 
$2,500,000, divided into 100,000 shares of a par value of $25 each. $500,000 
of the capital has been paid in. The eastern office is in New York. 
Thomas F. Mason is president and William R. Todd, secretary and 
treasurer. 


Cbc mass Consolidated* 

The Mass Consolidated Mining Company now owns what was 
largely the property of several old and well known mining companies, , 
all of which figured more or less in the earlier development of the \ 
copper industry on Lake Superior. The properties thus united are 
the Ridge, the Mass, the Merrimac, the Ogima and the Hazard. In 
addition to these, quite an acreage of new mineral territory and wood 
lands has also been acquired. The company now owns something 



PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


151 


over 2,500 acres of land, all located in Greenland township, On¬ 
tonagon County. The distance from Ontonagon, the nearest harbor 
on Lake Superior, is twelve miles. A branch of the Chicago, Mil¬ 
waukee & St. Paul railway, running from Milwaukee to Ontonagon, 
passes through the company’s mineral lands, which is a very import¬ 
ant consideration in the opening up of any mining property. A new 
company, called the Copper Range Railway Company, has made a survey 
from Portage Lake to Rockland, and construction work on the road has 
already been started. The D., S. S. & A. R’y has also made a survey 
of a line from Baraga, on L’Anse Bay, to Rockland. The company, 
therefore, has the choice of three locations for a mill site; one at On¬ 
tonagon, one at Portage Lake, and the third at L’Anse Bay. Local 
considerations, such as freight rates, favorable site for stamp mill, 
etc., will determine which location will be selected. 

The property is traversed, in their order from north to south, by 
the Knowlton, Mass, Champion, Ogima and Evergreen lodes, for a 
distance of about a mile and a half. 

The Ridge mine paid out $100,000 in dividends from the open¬ 
ings on the Butler and Evergreen lodes, and this under the old system 
of development. At this mine Nos. 1, 2 and 3 shafts were sunk to 
depths of 100, 600 and 700 feet, respectively, on the Butler lode. A shaft 
was also sunk 80 feet deep on the Evergreen vein, on the extreme east 
boundary line of the property, about eight rods from No. 3 shaft, and 
makes a fine showing of copper, as well as proving the continuance of 
the lode. This vein can be worked from No. 3 shaft to a depth of over 
3,000 feet before reaching the eastern boundary line. It was thought 
by the old management that the fortieth level could be extended west 
several hundred feet to the boundary line, and that it would produce 
several thousand tons of copper from there to surface. Notwithstand¬ 
ing the fact that the Ridge property never had the advantage of mod¬ 
ern mining appliances, it has yielded in the past 4,000 tons of copper. 
The yield per fathom of ground broken has been from 500 to 800 
pounds of mineral, yielding eighty per cent ingot copper. The stamp 
rock of the mine has yielded as high as 2i per cent in mineral. 

The Evergreen vein greatly resembles the Knowlton in general 
character, but contains less stamp rock. It varies in width from six 
to twenty feet and dips at an angle of 45 degrees. The Butler lode 
lies between the Knowlton and Evergreen belts. It is a wide vein, 
running sometimes to a width of 30 feet, and contains mass copper 
principally. This was the most extensively worked vein in the On¬ 
tonagon district, it having been explored from the mines at Rockland 
eastward to the Houghton county line. It was opened in several 
places on the old Mass property, as well as on the Ogima, Merrimac 
and Ridge. During 1874 work was started at the Mass mine, when 


152 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


the company had a capital of $20,000, and in the five years following 
$500,000 worth of copper was produced. Prior to this, in 1864, some 
work was done on the Evergreen lode, but little was accomplished. 
During the active period of the mine’s existence, following 1874, 
$14,000 was realized from assessment and work was started with the 
extension of a cross-cut through the bluff, opening up all the different 
veins at a distance of about 100 feet below the surface, where they 
were found to be regular away from surface overflows. In addition to 
the different pits on the outcrops of the lodes the several veins were 
thoroughly examined in this crosscut. The Knowlton vein seemed 
to afford the greatest proportion of stamp rock from which a regular 
product could be realized, and future operations were confined to this 
vein. The wisdom of this policy was demonstrated later by the large 
product secured from the Knowlton, from the profits of which the com¬ 
pany was enabled to purchase hoisting machinery, air compressors 
and air drills, and to make many improvements and build a stamp 
mill. 

In sinking No. 1 shaft on the Mass to the adit level, forty tons of 
copper were obtained, while a large amount of heavy copper and rich 
stamp rock was secured from the stopes on each side. The product 
from this vein consisted of thirty-live per cent of masses and heavy 
copper and sixty-five per cent of mineral from the stamp mill. The 
Knowlton lode continued in this form to the lowest workings. About 
sixty tons of rock per day was stamped in the mill. The location of 
the stamp mill was the hank of a small stream on the Mass property, 
this being, at the time of its erection, the only available site. The 
stream supplied ample water until the surrounding timber was cut 
down and consumed for fuel. After this the stream dried up, and the 
company, being thus deprived of milling facilities, shut down the 
mine in 1886. Since that year tributors worked the property and 
shipped several carloads of copper each year from the old stopes. 

The other lodes on the Mass.property have not been extensively 
worked. Some work was done on the Butler in surface pits, and some 
drifting from the tunnel extended across the various lodes. All these 
openings produced a large proportion of heavy copper but very little 
stamp rock. In the Mass vein, lying between the Knowlton and But¬ 
ler lodes, a shaft was sunk to a depth of about 100 feet. This vein is 
much like that of the Butler in character, it producing heavy copper 
and but little stamp rock. The dip of the Mass vein is greater than 
that of the Butler, and it is believed that both veins will unite at a 
depth of somewhere about 800 feet, when they will form a lode of large 
proportions. 

In December of last year The Mass company selected as its gen¬ 
eral manager Thomas F. Cole, a mining man of wide experience, who 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


153 


at once began to formulate his plans for the future operation of the 
mine. Work was commenced in January of this year at the Ridge 
branch of the property, and by the following month adarge pump was 
put in service unwatering the mine. At this writing preparations are 
under way to prosecute work at the Ridge branch just as soon as this 
can be done. A new hoisting engine has been ordered and large con¬ 
tracts have been let for the necessary timber and fuel. Several new 
shafts will be started on the property the coming summer. The open¬ 
ings will be extended with the utmost energy, so that the mill, when 
built, can be supplied with all the rock it can handle. 

With the history of the successful operations on the Knowlton 
vein in the Mass branch and on the Evergreen vein in the Ridge 
branch, together with the heavy copper and stamp rock that will be 
available from the Butler and other lodes in all the mines of this 
group, and with the facilities that can now be afforded for operating 
the mines, there seems to be no doubt of the great value, as a producer, 
of this property. 

The company owns about twenty dwellings, besides offices, barns 
and shops. The available machinery consists of two hoisting engines, 
an air compressor capable of running twelve drills, machine shop with 
equipment of tools, and sundry small other engines and pumps. The 
local officers are Thomas F. Cole, general manager; Richard Trezona, 
mining captain. 

The company was organized February 1, 1899, with a capital of 
$2,500,000, divided into 100,000 shares of a par value of $25 each. Of 
the capital $800,000 has been paid in. The company’s eastern office is 
in Boston. The officers are Edward E. Floyd, president, and Chas. H. 
Bennett, secretary and treasurer. 


Cbe lllicbtgati* 

The Michigan property embraces 4,780 acres of mineral lands, and 
presents an immense field for future operations. In addition to the 
Calico lode, there are several others of a most promising character 
known to traverse the property. Covering, as this property does, a com¬ 
plete cross-section of the copper range, it necessarily has within its 
boundaries not only all the lodes which gave the old Minnesota—by 
which name the mine was formerly known—its greatest reputation, 
but also all the series of lodes known as the Knowlton, Mass, Champion, 
Ogima and Evergreen. 



154 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


The Michigan mine is located within a mile of the Chicago, Milwau¬ 
kee & St. Paul railway, near the beautiful and historic village of Rock¬ 
land, once the greatest copper mining camp in the world. The history 
of the old Minnesota mine is one of great interest, it having been among 
the first in the district to attract attention in mining circles. In the 
early fifties it enjoyed comparatively as great a prestige as does the 
Calumet & Hecla today. The signs of pre-historic mining were first 
discovered on this property, several pits having been found which con¬ 
tained unmistakable evidence of having been opened centuries ago, 
while stone hammers and other crude implements are still picked up 
in the vicinity of the mine. 

One of the largest masses of copper ever found, weighing 527 tons, 
was taken from the Minnesota in 1856. The discovery gave the mine a 
world-wide reputation. Accounts of the huge masses of native copper 
found in this mine were published everywhere and almost staggered be¬ 
lief. Masses weighing hundreds of pounds were purchased and taken 
to Europe as curiosities. The Minnesota affords an instance of the 
most extraordinary profits derived from a small investment in a legiti¬ 
mate industry, as for every dollar paid in the stockholders received 
nearly thirty in return. The company was organized in 1848, with a cash 
capital of $66,000. All further cost of opening and equipping the mine 
was met by the sale of its product. This, it should be remembered, 
was accomplished prior to 1863, when the upper peninsula was with¬ 
out a railway, and when the machine drills, giant powder, high service 
machinery and the various labor-saving appliances of the present day 
were undreamed of. At that time hand-drills, black powder and old- 
style windlasses were in general use. 

With its deepest shaft down 1,300 feet, the Minnesota mine suspend¬ 
ed operations in 1870. At that time the conglomerate lode, from which 
the greatest amount of mass copper had been secured, was yielding 
poorly, and the company was threatened with a deficit. Instead of 
continuing the development of the property, the directors decided to 
abandon work, believing the copper vein to have been exhausted. The 
records of the company show that Superintendent Harris urged the di¬ 
rectors to sink the shafts deeper, but work was discontinued even in 
the light of the knowledge that mass copper was again showing in the 
bottom of two shafts. It would have been necessary to assess the 
stockholders in order to continue operations, and those who had been 
in receipt of fat dividends for years flunked on that proposition, prefer¬ 
ring to discontinue operations rather than take the risk of a slight 
loss. It is firmly believed by those now in possession of the vast prop¬ 
erty that this decision was a great mistake, as the history of copper 
mining in this district since shows that some of the richest ground in 
the leading mines was encountered at great depths. It would, indeed, 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


155 


be strange if the conglomerate vein in the Minnesota ceased to be pro¬ 
ductive at a depth of but 1,300 feet. Some of the leading producers of 
the present day have found the metal but sparingly at a similar depth, 
and when it is remembered that no lode on the entire range has been 
exhausted at the lowest depth yet reached, the immense possibilities 
of the Michigan become at once apparent. 

When the old Minnesota was a dividend-payer, the company, like 
others at that time, was looking for mass copper only. The existence 
of the stamp rock lodes was well known; but it was not believed it 
would pay to work them, owing to the lack of facilities for treating 
the rock, now so readily obtainable. There are many still residing in 
this section who remember the time when the claim that rock run¬ 
ning from two to three per cent could be mined at a profit was treated 
with derision. 

The reports of the mine superintendent show that the develop¬ 
ments on the Calico lode and the South Range veins of the prop¬ 
erty proved that they yielded a great abundance of rock carrying a high 
percentage of copper. 

The official above mentioned, who has long since crossed the dark 
river, finally prevailed on the company to treat the Calico lode by 
means of a system of rollers. These were put in at a great expense and 
afterward proved an entire failure. From the standpoint of today, 
it is incredible that such a process should have been favored, especially 
as the Ball stamp was at the time by no means an untried experiment. 
However, the rolls were a failure, having been poorly constructed, 
and although the results showed that the rock ran two percent in 
mineral, treatment of it by this process was abandoned, proving too 
costly. 

When the Michigan Copper Mining Company was organized last 
June by Detroit capitalists to develop the Minnesota property, Samuel 
Brady, the well known mining engineer and expert, was selected to 
take charge of the work. Mr. Brady was convinced of the commercial 
value of the Calico lode and at once began operations in the old mine 
with a view to reaching the old workings on the lode mentioned. 
This he was finally successful in doing, through the medium of No. 10 
shaft in the south vein of the old mine and a cross-cut 140 feet in 
length from the third level. At the intersection of this cross-cut 
with the north vein, a cave was taken up and communication estab¬ 
lished. This exposed a level on the Calico lode about 90 feet in 
length, in the back of which some little stoping had been done, show¬ 
ing some excellent copper ground. From the back of this level, 55 
feet west of the cross-cut, is a winze, affording connection with 
the second level about 60 feet above. This level is 200 feet in 
length, and presents a fine opportunity to examine the lode, especially 


156 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


as a considerable portion of it had been stoped, and a great part of 
the ground so broken was never removed. It was ascertained that 
the lode varied in width from 10 to 12 feet, its dip and strike being 
conformable to the main Minnesota conglomerate. The richest por¬ 
tions of the lode in these old workings appear to be on the footwall 
side, though the copper frequently makes well to the hanging. The 
footwall side of the lode is a compact melaphyr, while the hanging, or 
upper bed, is much more amygdaloidal in character, but carrying with 
it frequent masses of felsitic rock and occasionally fragments of what 
appear to be a highly altered sandstone. Intermixed with this bed 
are frequent masses of epidote and considerable calcite. The peculiar 
green, reddish and brown colors of this lode have given it the name 
“Calico”. Two shafts, known as “A” and “B”, are being sunk on this 
lode. “A” is a triple-compartment shaft, 7 x 18 feet inside of timbers, 
and contains two skip ways and a pipe and ladder way. 

It has attained a depth of 200 feet, at which point drifting has 
been commenced east and west on the lode. The drift east 975 feet to 
“B” shaft is being extended with all possible dispatch. The equip¬ 
ment at “A” shaft consists of a double drum hoist, adequate for all 
purposes to a depth of from 500 to 600 feet. Since starting work at this 
point upon the Calico lode this shaft has been continuously in pay 
ground; evidence of the truth of this statement will be found not only 
by a careful examination of the ground opened, but also in the hand¬ 
some pile of rich stamp rock which has accumulated since starting the 
work of sinking. “B” shaft, which has a present depth of nearly 300 
feet, is a double-compartment shaft, 7 x 12 feet inside timbers to a depth 
of 200 feet. From that point down it has been enlarged to the same 
dimensions as “A” shaft. Later on it will be cut down from surface 
to the enlarged size. At the 200-foot level a splendid station has been 
cut, and drifting has been started east and west on the lode. Both 
drifts are very promising in character and at present fully support the 
promise given not only in “A” shaft, but also in the deeper and older 
workings on the third level, of the uniform mineralization of the lode. 
The equipment at “B” shaft consists of a battery of two 100-horse¬ 
power boilers, operating a single-drum hoist and a compressor having 
a capacity for from 10 to 12 drills. A great part of “B” shaft has been 
sunk in the footwall side of the lode and when the cutting of the sta¬ 
tion at the second level was started no glimpse of the lode had been 
found for about 60 feet. It is but just to state that the exposures made 
by this work are fully satisfactory to the management. 

The lode traverses the property for a distance of a mile and a quar¬ 
ter. The strike of the lode is north 64 degrees east and the dip 46i 
degrees. Indications point to a width of the lode where exposed of 
from 12 to 14 feet. A recent discovery of old maps discloses the prob- 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


157 


able existence of another amygdaloid belt which tradition states is a 
promising stamp vein, and upon which it is the intention of the man¬ 
agement to prospect in the very near future. 

The coming summer will see considerable done in the way of erect¬ 
ing dwellings and various mine buildings, including machine and 
carpenter shops. 

The Michigan Copper Mining Company was organized June 5,1898, 
with a capital of $2,500,000, divided into 100,000 shares of a par value of 
$25. The company’s last statement shows assets amounting to $295,- 
000. The main office is in New York. John Stanton is president; J. 
W. Hardley, secretary; J. R. Stanton, treasurer. 


Uictoria Copper Itlitimg Company* 

The Victoria Copper Mining Company owns 2,300 acres of mineral 
lands, comprising the old Victoria, Sylvan, Glenn, Shirley and Oneida 
properties, located about four miles west of Rockland and next on the 
range to the Michigan and National mines. 

The earliest copper mining in America was probably done on this 
property. In 1770 the attention of Alexander Henry was directed here 
by the existence of a large mass of float copper lying on the bank of the 
west branch of the Ontonagon river. This mass of copper was held in 
veneration as an object of worship by the Indians, long before white 
men invaded this region. After the cession of this territory to the 
United States government by the Chippewa Indians in 1842, this mass 
of copper was removed, and was, presented to the Smithsonian insti¬ 
tute at Washington by a Mr. Eldred. Mr. Henry sunk a shaft through 
the clay, expecting to strike the copper formation, but it reached the 
sandstone. With the advent of mild weather the openings caved in 
for lack of supports and he suspended operations, which had been com¬ 
menced a century too early. The property is traversed by all the veins 
of the Evergreen and Minnesota ranges, upon which are situated the 
Michigan, Adventure, Mass, Belt and other well-known mines. 

The old Forest Company, preceding the Victoria Mining Company, 
was organized in 1850, and commenced operations on a vein that is 
probably identical with the Evergreen lode, which it closely resembles. 
At that time the other veins of the series were not known to any ex¬ 
tent. Four shafts were sunk, each to a depth of about 250 feet, and 
were connected with levels. A stamp mill was erected on the west 



158 


COPPER. MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


Dank of the Ontonagon river. The mill was connected with the mine 
by a horse tram-road and incline about a mile and a half long. Consid¬ 
erable stoping was done, and selected rock treated in the mill yielded 
good results until the mill was accidentally destroyed by fire in 1859. 
A new mill was constructed, but the advent of the civil war and subse¬ 
quent business reverses caused-a cessation of work; since which mining 
has been confined to what was done by tributors. During the past 15 
years the property has been wholly idle. 

The large tract now owned by the Victoria Company is traversed 
for a mile and a half by lodes.which can be wrought to unlimited 
depths without leaving the company’s lines. The character of the 
Evergreen vein is similar to that of this formation as found elsewhere. 
At the Victoria it varies from six to twenty feet in width, with the 
copper forming in bunches, some of which are very rich. The machin¬ 
ery has long since been removed, but will now be replaced by a modern 
plant, which has already been ordered by the new company. A valu¬ 
able adjunct to the mine is the Glenn Falls water power, situated on 
the west branch of the Ontonagon river on the property. This has 
been estimated by competent engineers at over 4,000-horse power, 
and it is the intention of the company to utilize it for the generation 
of power to be used in operating the mine. Captain Thomas Hooper 
was appointed superintendent of the property recently and is now on 
the ground arranging for its early development on a large scale. 

Surface work under the new company was begun March 1,1899. The 
company was organized January 23, 1899, with a capital of $2,500,000, 
divided into 100,000 shares of a par value of $25 each. Of the capital 
$700,000 has been paid in. The eastern office of the company is 539 Ex¬ 
change Building, Boston. Hon. T. B. Dunstan is president; James P. 
Graves, secretary and treasurer. 


tbe Belt mine* 

The property known as the Belt mine consists of about 2,000 acres 
of mineral and timber land, located in Greenland township, Ontona- 
gan county, between the Adventure and Indiana mines, and comprises 
what was formerly known as the Bohemian and Great Western mines, 
which were worked in the early days on a small scale. They passed in¬ 
to the hands of the Belt Mining Company by purchase in 1882. 

The five veins of the Evergreen range pass through the property, 
a mile and one half in length, but only three of these have been open¬ 
ed up. The old mining work was done on the Butler vein, on which 



PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


159 


two shafts have been sunk to the third level, and have produced sever¬ 
al hundred tons of copper. Prior to its sale to the Belt Company, trib- 
utors had worked out all the copper ground. 

On the Evergreen vein, the most southerly of this group of veins, 
no systematic mining work has ever been done. Tributors, however, 
have been very successful there, and from one pit on the outcropping 
of the vein they took out over sixty tons of mass copper. 

The Belt Company decided to open a new mine on the Knowlton 
vein, the most northerly of the Evergreen Range. On this vein the 
company did considerable work, sinking three shafts, two of which are 
connected at the fourth and second levels, one being sunk to the 
third level. The strike of the Knowlton vein is north 70 degrees east, 
and its dip 40 degrees toward the northwest. 

The vein in the vicinity of Knowlton shaft proved to be of more 
than ordinary richness, and the ground now in sight in both levels in 
the west end of the shaft is unusually rich. Under ordinary conditions, 
the promising appearance of this vein would have induced the foreign 
owners to continue sinking in the Knowlton shaft for several hundred 
feet, and to press forward the openings enough to supply the mill with 
selected rock, and expand the works of the mine so as to render it 
profitable. But having exhausted their resources in the premature 
construction of the mill and erection of the mining plant, and being 
disappointed with the results of stamping unselected rock from the 
Butler vein, which is not a stamp lode, they declined to make any 
further expenditure and suspended operations without proving what is 
considered to be the best part of the property. 

During the sinking and drifting in this new mine, the Belt Com. 
pany took out and sent to the stamp mill 700 tons of rock, which yield¬ 
ed one and one half per cent of refined copper. After this, in 1884, the 
board of English directors, with their engineer, came over and visited 
the property. Under their direction several blocks of ground were 
measured off in different parts of the mine and all the rock mined there 
was sent to the mill. The result was a yield of copper of over two per 
cent. The rock also contained some mass and barrel copper, which 
would have brought its yield up considerably higher. 

Satisfied with the test made, the mining captain was told to furnish 
the mill with the required amount of rock, about two hundred tons per 
day, but he had not ground opened to produce it, and all the company’s 
money had been spent on the mining plant and surface improvement. 
The company was working on borrowed capital. Copper had dropped 
from 20 cents when it commenced mining to 104 cents, and the com¬ 
pany became discouraged, wound up its organization and turned the 
property over to the bondholders, who foreclosed the mortgage and 
sold it to the present owners. 


160 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


A new organization has been formed and the property is now own¬ 
ed by the Arctic Copper Mining Company, which will commence active 
operations at once. 

With the conservative and efficient management which marks 
the affairs of the Lake mining industries of today, the Belt gives every 
promise of becoming a profitable producer at an early date, as it has a 
splendid mining equipment ready for work, all modern and nearly new. 
The equipment consists of an up-to-date stamp mill, built for three 
heads of Ball stamps, only one of which has been erected. The mill is 
supplied with an engine and boiler capable of furnishing power to run 
the three heads, forty washing machines and two slime tables; also 
one large pump 14"x24", with water cylinders double, 20"x 30". 

The Knowlton shaft is equipped with two large hoisting plants and 
one small one. The Butler vein is provided with a small hoist and 
rock house with high speed engine, I2"x 16", and two Blake rock crush¬ 
ers, a double compressor capable of running 32 drills, with engine an d 
boiler, and seven Rand drills, sawmill complete, a roundhouse with a 
20-ton locomotive and a railroad from mine to mill. There are 25 ten¬ 
able dwelling houses, an agent’s house, store and office building, a 
warehouse, supply house, powder house, school house, boarding house, 
several barns, machine and blacksmith shops, and all the buildings 
and machinery are ready for immediate service. Water and timber are 
abundant on the property. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 
railroad passes within two and one-half miles of the property, and the 
Copper Range railroad will pass through the property near the mine 
and mill. There is every reason to believe that the current year 
will see the Arctic on the list of producing mines. 


€be national* 

Next to the Minnesota, the National was the greatest copper pro¬ 
ducer ever developed in Ontonagon county. Its mineral lands em¬ 
brace 1,852 acres adjoining the Michigan, formerly the Minnesota, on 
the west, and contain the same rock formations and characteristics as 
the sister property. 

Mining work was commenced there in 1852 on the contact lode be¬ 
tween the conglomerate lode and the overhanging trap, and was con¬ 
tinued until October, 1870. The outcrop was plainly marked by an¬ 
cient excavations, from the bottom of one of which the first shaft was 
sunk. 



PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


161 




The property has been idle for about five years. Nine shafts were 
sunk, of which the deepest, No. 2, had attained a depth of 1,400 feet. 
In the amygdaloid stamp vein, which lies 140 feet north of the con¬ 
glomerate lode, one shaft was sunk to a depth of about 700 feet. All 
these openings produced large quantities of copper, from the sale of 
which dividends amounting to $320,000 have been paid. 

The company is organized with a capitalization of 40,000 shares of 
a par value of $25 each, and is about to be reorganized. It is expected 
that work will be resumed at an early date. 

The machinery consists of a large hoisting engine in place and 
two others in stock. The stamp mill contains one head and all nec¬ 
essary machinery for treating about 250 tons of rock daily. There is 
also at the mine a well equipped machine and blacksmith shop, mine 
offices and a number of desirable dwellings sufficient to. furnish ac¬ 
commodations for a large force of men. The property is controlled by 
D. L. Demmon, of Boston. 


Ulabnita Copper mining Company. 

The Wahnita Copper Mining Company was organized February 9, 
1899, with a capital of $2,500,000, divided into 100,000 shares of a par 
value of $25 each. Of the capital $500,000 is being called in. 

The company’s lands comprise 400 acres, as follows: South half of 
northwest quarter of section 8, southwest quarter of section 8 and 
northwest quarter of section 17, in township 48, range 43. The location 
is about four miles west of Gogebic lake. 

Copper was discovered in an amygdaloid vein traversing the proper¬ 
ty in 1852, when, and for sometime following, explorations were con¬ 
ducted there. The lode was exposed for a distance of 500 feet and is 
believed to traverse the property for a distance of 3,000 feet. Those 
who saw the property in its early development speak very well of the 
showing then made. Captain John IVealton has been placed in charge 
and work will be commenced at once. The eastern office is in Boston. 
J. B. Fuller is president, F. H. Clark treasurer, and Henry F. Whit¬ 
ney secretary. 


li 



162 COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


Other Ontonagon Properties* 

The Jeffs Land Company owns about 800 acres of mineral lands in 
sections 7, 8, 9 and 10, township 50, range 39 west, adjoining the Mich¬ 
igan on the north and west, upon which some work is now being done 
to prove one of the lodes which traverse the property. Two pits have 
been sunk on the lode. These sinkings are about half a mile apart, one 
being on the east half of the southwest quarter, and the other on the 
west half of the southeast quarter of section 9. There is a good show¬ 
ing of copper in each of these pits. The width of the lode has not yet 
been determined. The work was begun late in the winter and much 
trouble was experienced on account of water during the early spring, 
but it will now be pushed energetically, the company having great 
confidence in the value of the property. A conglomerate lode crosses 
the property about one hundred feet north of the lode on which work 
is now under way, and the lands of the company are traversed by sev¬ 
eral other lodes which give surface indications of much promise. 

During the past two years exploratory work has been conducted 
at the Halliwell and Carp Lake mines. At the Halliwell three shafts 
have been sunk on three different lodes that were recently discovered 
on the property. The mine is equipped with a neat little plant, con¬ 
sisting of a small hoist, air compressor and saw-mill, adequate for the 
present purposes and enclosed in substantial buildings. Six men are 
employed and others will be taken on at an early date. The mine 
is situated about two miles south of Union Bay and eighteen 
miles west of Ontonagon. It is owned by Cleveland parties, who have 
great faith in its future. 

This mine was set off from a large body of land owned by A. Meads 
of Marquette and the Halliwell Estate of Cleveland, Ohio. The 
balance of this body of land, 3,280 acres, lying , south and west of the 
Halliwell mine, will go into a syndicate being formed to examine and 
open other copper veins that have been found on the land. 

The old Carp Lake mine lies north of Carp lake and six miles west 
of the Halliwell. During the past year the old adit was opened up 
for a distance of several hundred feet and the lower portions of the 
mine were unwatered. The workings in this mine are in a fine¬ 
grained brown sandstone, in which the copper occurs. A man is now 
in charge of the property and it is expected that operations will be 
resumed two months hence. This mine is also owned by Cleveland 
parties. 

Efforts are being made to consolidate and operate other mines in 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


163 


the county, notably the Lake Superior and Flint Steel. The mineral 
lands lying easterly from the Belt toward the Winona are being given 
attention and will be exploited before the season is over. The 
Nonesuch, lying in the Carp Lake district, and the Norwich and Essex, 
lying about twelve miles west of Rockland, and other properties in 
that direction, can also be added to the above list. 

The Essex mine, formerly known as the Norwich, has been sold to 
a syndicate of Boston and Lake men who will at once commence to 
unwater the workings and develop the mine, being confident that it 
will prove a very valuable property. The mine was in its early days 
a great favorite with Lake people, and has produced over five hundred 
tons of copper. Many masses of from oneTo ten tons in weight, very 
clean and pure, were taken out. The west branch of the Ontonagon 
river runs through the property, providing sufficient water for a 'large 
mill. 

The Pen n property, located two miles west of the Winona, is al ready 
being looked over and is certain to have its claims given consideration 
during the year. 

Many of Ontonagon’s mines have been successful producers; their 
lodes are known to contain mass copper and stamp rock in abundance. 
In no part of the copper district of Lake Superior have the copper 
veins been more easily traced, nor found to be more persistent in length 
or depth, or so uniformly rich. Here was the Minnesota mine, which 
produced one of the largest masses of copper ever found in the world, 
over 500 tons. At the National, Flint Steel, Mass and Arctic, masses of 
100 tons have been found, while at many of the other mines masses of 
from 10 to 40 tons frequently rewarded the labor of the miner. 

Many who are intimately acquainted with the copper ranges in 
this part of the Lake Superior district maintain that the richest piece 
of copper territory in the Upper Peninsula lies in Ontonagon county, 
and that the future great producing mines of the lake region (except¬ 
ing those on the Calumet lode), will be in the territory lying between 
the Ontonagon and Mercer Rivers, embracing the group of mines be¬ 
tween the Winona and Michigan (formerly Minnesota) properties. 
Nothing to equal them was found in the early days of copper mining 
on Lake Superior, and with the modern equipments now being install¬ 
ed, and ample working capital, there is every reason to expect that 
the Ontonagon properties now entering on a new career under favor¬ 
ing conditions will soon take a'place among the great producing and 
dividend-paying mines of Lake Superior. 


164 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


UJestern Cake Superior District 


By Kirby Cbomas. 


The explorations and developments on the extreme western end of 
the Lake Superior copper bearing formation in Douglas county, Wis¬ 
consin, during the past year, are sufficiently extensive and promising 
to demand more than a passing mention in a Review of the Lake Su¬ 
perior Copper Industry. Seven mining companies, with an aggregate 
capital of $11,500,000, are actively engaged in developing the properties 
on the Douglas range, and several more companies and many private 
holders of property in the Western Lake Superior Copper District are 
planning active work. The entire Keweenawan formation in north¬ 
ern Wisconsin and along the western edge of Minnesota is being pros¬ 
pected, and a general interest in the new district has been awakened, 
both locally and in Boston and other localities. The principal activity 
at this time is along the copper range in Douglas county, Wisconsin. 
This range, known locally as the Douglas range, is a series of out¬ 
cropping spurs, of undoubted Keweenawan origin, which form a well 
defined range, extending in a southwesterly direction across Douglas 
county, about twelve miles distant from Lake Superior. The ex¬ 
plorations and prospecting extend much.beyond the Douglas range 
proper, and include nearly all the western half of the territory indi¬ 
cated as Keweenawan formation on the map from Irving’s Monograph 
Y, United States Geological Survey, reproduced at page 176. This 
map will be more specifically referred to later. 


Somewhat historical. 

When the great rush of people to the then “booming” city of 
Superior, Wisconsin, began, a little over a decade ago, the facts of the 
early attempts at copper mining in the Western Lake Superior Dis¬ 
trict had already become history, and until about three years ago 
“Copper Range” was simply a convenient designation of a prominent 




PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


165 


physical feature of the locality. No one except a few of the “old 
timers” ever thought of there being a veritable store house of treasure 
at the city’s back door, as it were. The Superior boomers did not 
have time to look beyond the somewhat extensive city limits—and 
why should they? Did they not have a gold mine in each lot and par¬ 
cel in the townsite? But townsite booms do not last forever, and as 
early as 1892 the attention of these energetic city builders at the head 
of the lakes was turned to the development of the tangible and last¬ 
ing resources of the surrounding territory. Perhaps the Douglas Cop¬ 
per Range might have been opened up then, and speedily, had it not 
been for the marvelous discoveries of iron ore on the Mesaba. This 
range is about sixty miles northwesterly from Superior, and its devel¬ 
opment attracted for the time the full attention of local capital and 
enterprise. After a couple of years the large corporations secured 
complete control of this great natural resource, and the Mesaba took 
its high place among the greatest iron producing districts of the 
world under the absolute control of a monopoly. The time had come 
locally for the exploration of the almost forgotten “Copper Range”. 
In 1894 several local parties set out to prove or disprove the stories of 
rich copper in the Douglas range. Joseph Iluck of Superior made 
some copper discoveries about this time, in section 10, town 47, range 
12. He succeeded in interesting local parties. The land was optioned 
and a small amount of work was done in the bed of Middle river, where 
the outcrop was found. About the same time Jas. S. Wallace, a former 
western miner, began a systematic exploration of the extreme western 
end of the range. Mr. Wallace associated with him B. J. Van Vleck 
of Superior, and Monroe Ross and the Culligan Brothers of Dedham, 
Wisconsin, and secured titles and options on considerable land in town 
48, range 14. In the fall of 1895 work was commenced with a small 
force and continued through the winter. 

This was the first actual mining on the Douglas range for over 
twenty years. The Culligan mine, as the location opened up by Mr. 
Wallace is now called, proved very promising, and extensive plans for 
its development were formulated; but the parties in interest dis¬ 
agreed, and bad blood and litigation cut short all plans and tied up, 
until very recently, one of the best copper prospects in the district. 
Meanwhile Mr. Van Vleck had become interested in the Huck prop¬ 
erty. In 1897 Mr. Van Vleck, with George B. Nobles, M. W. Nelson 
and J. B. Arnold of Superior, organized the North Wisconsin Copper 
Mining company to operate the Huck discovery. In the summer of 
the same year that the North Wisconsin company was organized, 
Charles S. Starkweather, then serving his second term as mayor of 
Superior, commenced work on the old Wisconsin mine, sometimes 
called the Edwards, but now known far and wide as the Starkweather 


166 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


mine. This mine is located in section 2, town 47, range 13. In the 
spring of 1899 the Starkweather mine passed into the control of the 
Boston & Lake Superior Copper Mining company, a Boston corpora¬ 
tion. The old Percival property was bought by J. B. Arnold and B. J. 
Yan Yleck of Superior and several associates, in the early part of 1897, 
and in the following summer systematic exploration and development 
of it was begun. The Percival Copper Mining company, now devel¬ 
oping the property, was organized the same year. The Fond du Lac 
location, in which Mr. Arnold is also interested, was purchased by him 
in 1894, and is now owned by the Superior & Boston Copper Mining 
company, organized in the spring of 1899. Early in the summer of 
1898 Ernest A. Arnold began explorations on the Moose river, a 
branch of the St. Croix, emptying into that stream in section 35, town 
44, range 13. This location is in the south central part of the county 
and about 20 miles from the operations on the Douglas range. Some 
very promising prospects were discovered, and Mr. Arnold and several 
associates, including Milwaukee parties, secured control of a large 
area of land in that vicinity—some 30,000 acres—and organized the St. 
Croix Consolidated Copper Mines. James Bardon, Homer Andrew, 
Josiah Bond and a number of others from Superior, did considerable 
exploring there along the copper belt from 1896 to 1898. These re¬ 
cent explorations and developments awakened a lively interest in the 
prospects of copper mining in the Western District. The geology of 
the district and the mode of occurrence of the copper were carefully 
studied; and, generally, a conviction grew upon those interested that 
there was copper-bearing rock in workable bodies on the Douglas 
range. 


early attempts at mining. 


In common with Keweenaw Point, the Western Lake Superior 
Copper District was, in prehistoric times, the scene of the crude mining 
operations of the vanished race known as the Mound Builders. Evi¬ 
dences of these very early attempts to make the rocks of this district 
yield up to man’s many uses the red metal are numerous and well 
authenticated. August Zachau, one of the pioneers of the head of 
the lakes, many years ago discovered some Mound Builders’ pits in 
section 13, town 47, range 14, just eastward of the present Fond du Lac 
location. G. R. Stuntz, government surveyor, several years ago 
found some small pits near the upper falls of the Black river, on the 
top of one of which was found a rude, broken stone hammer. He also 
discovered evidences of these earlier mines on Copper Creek, where 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


167 


the'Copper Creek mines have since been developed. These prehis¬ 
toric relics were all found in town 47, range 14. Other evidences were 
found in town 47, range 13, on the site of the present Fond du Lac 
mine. William C. Howenstine, one of the early day copper pros¬ 
pectors, says that there were abundant evidences of mining by these 
unknown people on the range near the Brule river, where the Percival 
mine is now located. These evidences seem to indicate that this 
locality, which to this day abounds in surface nuggets and masses of 
copper in place, was a favorite mining ground for those pre-historic 
people. Mr. Howenstine is authority for the statement that consid¬ 
erable masses of the virgin metal, which had been partly removed from 
the parent rock with a stone maul, were found by the prospectors who 
came into this locality many years ago, centuries after these very 
earliest attempts at mining in this territory. 

The recorded history of copper mining in this district begins in 
1845. About that time the North American Fur Company, John Jacob 
Astor’s enterprise, prospected the Douglas range and did some con¬ 
siderable work at two locations. One mine at the Lower Black River 
Falls was opened on a somewhat lean vein of grey copper ore. This 
vein is exposed in the gorge below the falls and is the only occurrence 
of this kind of ore so far discovered on the range. Some attempts were 
made at that point to mine a vein impregnated with carbonate of cop¬ 
per. Both of these deposits are low grade and refractory. Some work 
was also done on the range near the Brule, section 28, town 47, 
range 10, on land now owned by James Bardon. When abandoned 
the pit was filled with the trunks of large trees, put in endwise, for 
what reason is not known. The same company in 1846 and 1847 sank 
four shafts on the Copper Creek location to depths varying from 30 to 
50 feet. The extreme difficulty under which mining operations were 
conducted at this very early day demanded immediate and very large 
returns, and no doubt the Fur company was glad to abandon this 
excursion into mining from the more profitable business of exchanging 
bad whisky and cheap trinkets for the furs and pelts of the Indians. 

After a lapse of nearly ten years another attempt to develop cop¬ 
per mines on the Douglas range was made. In 1855 A. A. Parker and 
C. C. Kimball, both explorers from Ontonagon, Michigan, secured a 
location in section 8, town 47, range 13, from the government. A 
local company, with a capital of $50,000, was organized and William 
George Cowell, also a Michigan miner, was secured to take charge of 
the work. About $12,000 was expended in sinking two shafts, one to a 
depth of 40 feet and the other 75 feet. Roads were built and expensive 
buildings erected. It is worth noting that one of these shafts was in¬ 
clined to the south, following the bed of the formation. Owing to lack 
of funds, work was discontinued after two years and the panic of 1857 


168 


COPPER MINING .INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


made it impossible to raise more money. This property was abandoned 
until the present year, when the Superior & Boston Copper Mining 
company secured the location and put new life and promise into the 
proposition. The same year that the Fond du Lac was opened a num¬ 
ber of other Michigan miners prospected in that vicinity and pre-empt¬ 
ed many locations, some of which have been held to this day by the 
original prospectors, so great was their faith in the possibilities of the 
locality. 

The general depression in the Lake Superior copper mining in¬ 
dustry in the early sixties was felt in Douglas county. With copper 
at 17£ cents there was no incentive to develop new mines or re-open 
old ones; but the revival soon came. A steady advance in the price of 
copper, begipning in December, 1861, when it sold at 27 cents, and 
continuing until 1864, when it reached the high-water mark and sold 
at 55 cents, put a new aspect on mining conditions in the entire Lake 
Superior copper district. Two copper propositions were launched in 
Douglas county in 1863. The Copper Creek location, to which the 
American Fur Company had lapsed title, passed into the control of 
General George B. Sargent of Davenport, Iowa, and James O. Sargent 
of Boston. The Copper Creek Copper company was organized, most of 
the stock being taken in Boston. Operations were commenced on an 
extensive scale. As with the Fond du Lac company, a large por¬ 
tion of the available resources was expended for roads and buildings. 
George R. Stuntz had charge of the work. Captain R. S. Petherwick, 
a Michigan miner, was placed in charge of mining operations. The 
first shaft was sunk at the fork of the creeks to a depth of two levels, 
120 feet. A drift was driven 30 feet westerly on the supposed vein. 
An erroneous impression of the formation prevailed here, the same as 
in all the other early mining operations of the Douglas range district, 
except possibly where the one shaft was sunk on the Fond du Lac. 
That impression was, that the formation dipped to the north, as on 
Keweenaw Point, when, in fact, the dip is to the south. The work 
was continued for three years, about $60,000 being expended. Other 
shafts and drifts, aggregating 300 feet, were sunk. Some very rich stamp 
rock and barrel copper were found. Some of the local men who worked 
at the Copper Creek location are James Bardon, John R. Smith, A. B. 
McLean, William C. Howenstine and James Russell, all now living in 
Superior, and Thomas Sexton, now living in Duluth. 

In the same year that the Copper Creek Copper Mining company 
was organized, the Wisconsin Copper Mining company undertook the 
development of the Edwards’ location in section 2, town 47, range 13, 
now known as the Starkweather. The incorporators were James Ed¬ 
wards, J. Mallory, J. Y. Y. Platto, J. W. Cary, J. A. Noonan and A. 
Finch; the capital was 20,000 shares of $100 each. Most of the money 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


169 


for the enterprise was secured in Milwaukee. Work was commenced 
in June, 1863, with Captain James Edwards in charge. About $14,000 
was expended, and all that was accomplished was the sinking of two 
shafts about 400 feet apart, one 58 and one 52 feet deep. Barrel copper, 
some of the pieces weighing from 15 to 20 pounds, was taken from the 
location, and in sinking one shaft 16 feet a half-ton mass of copper 
was secured. 

An interesting tradition is connected with the Wisconsin mine. 
One Antoine Ambuhl, the original pre-emptor, about 1854, shortly 
after his pre-emption, came to Superior City and reported that he had 
found on his location a large mass of copper which he had covered 
up. He returned to the location and shortly afterward died 
without disclosing his secret, if he had any. Since that day many 
prospectors have looked for Ambuhl’s find, but it is as yet undiscov¬ 
ered. 

It was in 1863, also, that an attempt was made to develop a copper 
prospect on the north shore in the vicinity of Knife river. A Mr. 
Saulsbury organized the French River Mining company, and did con¬ 
siderable work. 

The great expense of mining and the limited capital brought de¬ 
velopment work to a stop at the end of two years with the Wisconsin 
company, and at the end of three years with the Copper Creek com¬ 
pany. The general falling in values in copper and the stagnation in 
the mining industry of the whole Lake Superior district again had its 
effect on the Douglas range companies; and work on these two proper¬ 
ties was not resumed. The Wisconsin company seems to have fallen 
into the same error in regard to the dip of the formation as the Copper 
Creek company, although the development work was more limited and 
the results better. 

Nearly ten years elapsed before further work was done on the Doug¬ 
las range. In the'fall of 1873, the Percival Mining company, named after 
the eminent geologist James G. Percival, commenced work on the 
east side of the Brule river in section 27, town 48, range 10. The com¬ 
pany was controlled by General Sargent, who had moved to Duluth 
from Iowa. E. McNair of Duluth was in charge of the work. A 
large amount of surface work and prospecting was done. One shaft 
was sunk about forty feet. The surface indications were the best yet 
discovered, and disclosed three distinct veins, one of which was traced 
nearly 2,000 feet. Considerable coarse copper was blasted out and one 
keg of it was sent down the lakes and shipped to Bristol, England, the 
headquarters of the company. The company had plans to utilize the 
Brule water power, which is available, being within a mile of the 
location. The Percival location was discovered by William C. 
Howenstine as early as 1853, but owing to its inaccessibility it was not 


170 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


investigated until twenty years after. Despite the difficulties of 
transportation, the rich surface specimens from the location led the 
Sargent people to finally undertake its development. The work was 
necessarily very expensive, and does not seem to have been well done. 
The panic of 1873 crippled the men who were backing the proposition, 
and the mine was abandoned without any satisfactory determination 
of the value of the property being arrived at. 

This closes the history of the earlier attempts to develop the cop¬ 
per prospects on the Douglas range. All these attempts were made 
under great disadvantages; transportation facilities were absolutely 
lacking; the cost of supplies was excessive; and the management in 
some cases was not all that could be desired. The promoters had ex¬ 
travagant ideas and inadequate capital; stock jobbing was not absent 
from these early projects; and the value of the district was not estab¬ 
lished so that outside capital could be interested. Concerning the 
cost of mining at this early day on the Douglas range, E. T. Sweet 
says, in Volume III of the Geology of Wisconsin: “The average cost 
per foot of sinking the shafts and running the drifts at Copper Creek 
in 1864-5 was $66. At the Fond du Lac mine in 1856-T the cost per 
foot of sinking the shafts was SI20, and it cost to sink the shafts on 
the Wisconsin location in 1863 $107 per foot. These .figures are extra¬ 
ordinarily high.” The work can be done today for one-fifth of that 
cost. The failure of these early mining enterprises on the Douglas 
range is only the old story of the early futile attempts to mine 
on Keweenaw Point. Mr. Irving, in Monograph V, points out other 
reasons why the Western district has not been developed before. He 
says, on page 428: 

Without the boundaries of the state of Michigan the attempts at 
copper mining have been but feeble, and utterly inadequate to prove 
or disprove the existence of workable copper deposits. Unfortunately 
the country is @ne covered with heavy drift accumulations, through 
which only the harder and more enduring, and therefore non-cuprifer- 
ous, beds ordinarily project. The indications are that but for the over- 
lying sheet of drift this region would be as productive in copper as 
that of Keweenaw Point. Rounding the turn at the western end of 
the great Keweenaw synclinal, in the St. Croix valley, we find the 
drift covering lighter, and here, in the vicinity of Snake and Kettle 
rivers, and thence northeastward into Douglas county, in Wisconsin, 
are found plainly bedded diabases and amygdaloids carrying copper 
with interbedded cupriferous conglomerates. The region is one which 
in the early days of mining excitement on Lake Superior was so remote 
and inaccessible that the flood of copper hunters which at that time 
spread west from Keweenaw Point failed to reach it. It still lies al¬ 
most wholly unexplored while promising more to the copper hunter 
than any other portion of the entire extent of the formation outside of 
the state of Michigan. Further north and east from the district last 
described lies the copper range of Douglas county, Wisconsin. Copper 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


171 


has been found along its course in a number of places, chiefly in epidot- 
ic altered amygdaloids, and the general structural characters are such 
as to indicate the possibility of the occurrence of copper in quantity 
along this belt. Some little mining has been done at several points, 
but not enough to lead to any satisfactory conclusions. 

It should also be noted that the periods of depression in the copper 
mining industry on the Keweenaw Peninsula, in Michigan, due to a 
falling copper market, or unfavorable financial conditions, were coinci¬ 
dent with the periods of cessation of work on the copper mining prop¬ 
erties on the less accessible and newer Douglas range. 

The present exploitation of the range is proceeding under entirely 
different circumstances and conditions, and is in the hands of men who 
are giving careful study to the geological formation, and are attacking 
the problems of development under the advice of competent mining 
engineers. The extensive operations in the exactly identical formations 
in the Michigan district afford an easily available reference as to the 
nature of the copper deposits and the most satisfactory methods of 
working them. 


Geology of the District* 

The extent of the Keweenawan formation, which includes the erup¬ 
tive beds in which the Lake Superior copper is found, can be seen on 
the map opposite page 176. This map is copied from Monograph V, 
United States Geological Survey, by Irving (1886). The great Kewee¬ 
nawan formation consists of a series of eruptive beds alternating in the 
upper division with sandstone and conglomerates, the whole lying above 
the Huronion slates, schists and metamorphic rocks. This formation 
was probably laid down in substantially horizontal position at the 
bottom of an ancient sea. Subsequent movement of the earth’s crust 
is supposed to have tilted the beds so as to form a great trough, or syn¬ 
clinal, as it is called by geologists. One edge of the synclinal lies from 
the end of Keweenaw Point across Michigan, northern Wisconsin, 
touching the southeasterly corner of Douglas county, flattening out as 
it extends westward across the Minnesota boundary. On the Kewee¬ 
naw Peninsula this edge contains the great Michigan copper mines. 
Where the edge corners Douglas county it is known as the Minong range. 
The other edge of the trough formed by the elevation of the region to 
the north forms the Douglas range, and the exposures at Duluth and 
along the north shore, on Isle Royal, and the exposures in the Nipigon 
locality. The northern edge is broken by depressions and not as easily 
traced as the southern edge. The lower beds of the Keweenawan for- 


172 COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OP LAKE SUPERIOR. 


mation consist mainly of coarsely crystalline gabbros, from twenty 
to fifty feet thick. After four or five thousand feet of these flows 
had spread out in horizontal sheets over this Lake Superior re¬ 
gion, the eruption became somewhat different in chemical char¬ 
acter, more frequent and with thinner flows. These constitute the 
middle series of the Keweenawan formation and most of the cop¬ 
per mines are located in this division. The upper series consist of al¬ 
ternating eruptives and sandstone or conglomerates. The absolute 
identity of the formation in the western Lake Superior district with 
that in the Keweenaw Point region is proven by very eminent author¬ 
ities. On page 139, Monograph Y, Mr. Irving, referring to the identity 
of the eruptive rocks of the St. Croix (Wisconsin) district and the 
Keweenaw Point formation, says: “This identification is also indis¬ 
putable; it is so because of the absolute identity in nature and struc¬ 
ture of the rocks of the region, and because the Keweenaw belts 
have been followed continuously from the eastern end of Keweenaw 
Point, Michigan, to the St. Croix river, Wisconsin. The predom¬ 
inate fine-grained basic rocks of the two regions are so completely 
the same in mineral composition, even to the alteration-products, 
that thin sections of rocks from the two districts placed side by 
side are not distinguishable from one another. The rocks of the 
two regions present precisely the same amygdaloidal, pseudo-amyg- 
daloidal, and compact phases. The amygdules are made of the 
same minerals in both, associated in the same ways. Native cop¬ 
per occurs in the St. Croix valley in the same manner, and with the 
same associates, as on Keweenaw Point. Almost everywhere the StJ 
Croix valley rocks present precisely the same bedded structure as seen 
in those of Keweenaw Point. The evidence for all the distance be¬ 
tween Keweenaw Point and the St. Croix is just as strong as that ever 
appealed to to prove the continuity of geological formations anywhere. 
From Keweenaw Point to the St. Croix, the formation has been traced 
mile by mile.” E. T. Sweet, of the Wisconsin Geological Survey, 
says, in Volume III of the report of that survey, page 331: “Undoubted 
Keweenawan rocks are found in Douglas county, twelve or fifteen; 
miles southeast from the eastern end of the St. Louis river slates. 
They extend entirely across the country, outcropping in a more or less 
broken line, and forming the well known Douglas copper range.” 
Professor T. C. Chamberlin, now holding the chair of Geology in the 
Chicago University, says (Yol. Ill, Wisconsin Geological Reports, page 
357): “The St. Croix valley and Douglas range formation is not only 
the equivalent, as the name implies, of the great copper-bearing ter- 
rane of Keweenaw Point, but it is directly continuous with it and forms 
its western prolongation. It is difficult to assign any satisfactory 
reason why an igneous overflow should be richer in a metal at a given 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


173 


point than at any other, and still more difficult to understand how a 
succession of such overflows, separated by considerable periods of time, 
should be exceptionally rich in the same region. Theoretically, there¬ 
fore, there is little or no reason for believing that the igneous rocks of 
one district are less rich in copper than in other portions.” 

The question of identity is further established by the corrobora¬ 
tive evidence of practical men who have compared the rocks of the two 
localities recently, and who have examined the formation as disclosed 
in the shafts of the propositions now being opened up on the Douglas 
range. 


mining Facilities* 

The Douglas range is located about fifteen miles from Superior, 
the seat of a large lake commerce and a railroad point of importance. 
It is paralleled by the Northern Pacific and South Shore & Atlantic 
railroads, and crossed by the Omaha and the Great Northern roads. The 
whole district which is being developed is easily accessible to railroads. 
The country is well watered and in the Douglas range districts the 
several large rivers and streams which cross the formation afford un¬ 
limited water power and ample water convenient to the mining prop¬ 
erties. Wood and fuel are abundant and cheap, and supplies can be 
easily procured at Superior or Duluth. The whole district is easily 
accessible to prospective investors ahd for mining purposes, no pros¬ 
pect being more than half a day’s trip from a railroad station. 


Cbe Percival mine* 

The Percival is the most easterly of the developed properties on 
the Douglas range, and the highest in the Keweenawan series of the 
Range locations. The property is organized as the Percival Copper 
Mining Company, and has a capital stock of $1,000,000, with shares of 
$1.00 par value. The officers are: E. P. Mackey, of Gordon, Wis., presi¬ 
dent; I. P. Estes, of Pierre, S. D., vice-president; B. J. Yan Yleck, of 
Superior, secretary and treasurer and manager. There have been 400,000 
shares placed in the treasury for development purposes. The company 
owns 800 acres lying in town 48, range 10. The land covers two miles 
along the strike of the Percival lode, and includes within its bounda- 



m CORPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


ries two miles of the Brule River. The Brule River falls 200 feet in 
passing through the company’s property, and is easily available for 
power for mining, compressor drills, hoisting, pumping, and for a stamp 
mill. The location affords mill sites by which the water can be fed by 
gravity into the top of the mill. The Northern Pacific Railroad runs 
three miles south of the property. 

This property was thoroughly and intelligently explored in 1898, 
and the present work, preliminary to making the Percival a producing 
mine, is being pushed with great vigor. When development work was 
begun last fall a trench was started north at right angles to the strike 
of the formation. Within 40 feet a cupriferous amygdaloidal belt 
was crossed, which, from surface indications, promised better than 
anything previously shown, and an inclined shaft was started which 
from the first yielded rock very rich in copper. This shaft is at present 
(April 25) down 56 feet and is going down night and day. A new shaft 
has been started 500 feet east of No. 1; at intervals west of No. 1 shaft the 
lode has been uncovered for a distance of 600 feet, showing rock of the 
most promising character. Fine camps have been built, and an equip¬ 
ment suitable for all present needs has been purchased and is on the 
ground. A crew of 20 men, which will soon be increased, is steadily em¬ 
ployed. It is the intention to sink the No. 1 shaft 200 feet, cross-cut- 
ting the lode about every 50 feet; when the shaft has reached the depth 
stated drifting will be done along the lode both east and west for a suffi¬ 
cient distance to give an estimate of the character of the deposit at 
that depth. A crosscut will also be run north and south across the 
formation some hundred feet each way to determine the value of other 
parallel copper-bearing lodes which look very promising on the sur¬ 
face. No. 2 shaft will be sunk to a sufficient depth to show the lode at 
that point and then other shafts will be put down 500 feet apart until 
the lode has been shown up for from 2,000 to 2,500 feet. 

The formation is very regular, having a hanging wall of diabase 
separated from the mineral by a clay gangue. The lode is from 16 to 20 
feet in width and is heavily, charged with native copper. An average 
of many samples of the rock panned gives a value of from 2 to 3 
per cent of copper. Some portions of the main lode run as high as 6 per 
cent. Four parallel lodes are found on the property. These have a 
general northeasterly trend and dip to the south at a comparatively 
low angle, about 45 degrees. Some of the lodes have been traced 2,000 
feet on the surface. The lodes are all amygdaloidal and carry much 
prehnite, calcite, epidote and laumontite. The No. 1 shaft carries also 
much quartz in geodes and “vugs”. The surface explorations have un¬ 
covered in places several masses of copper weighing from 20 to 30 
pounds. 


Producing and prospective copper mines. 


m 


north lUiscotisim 

The first of the present-day companies to organize was the North 
Wisconsin Copper Mining Company. The North Wisconsin location is 
in section 10, town 47, range 12. The company also has an option on 
sections 3 and 9 in the same town. The capital stock of the company 
is 500,000 shares, $1.00 par value. The officers are M. W. Nelson, 
president; J. B. Yan Yleck, vice-president; F. A. Woodward, sec¬ 
retary and treasurer, all of Superior, Wisconsin. The copper-hearing 
formation is exposed in this locality by the erosion of Middle River, a 
stream of considerable size which crosses the company’s land. The 
trend of the formation is about 15 degrees north of east, with a dip of 
about 65 degrees to the south. The cupriferous belt is a regular amyg- 
daloidal bed from 10 to 16 feet wide, carrying native copper associated 
with prehnite, chlorite and some calcite. Two other amygdaloidal 
belts carrying copper have also been disclosed lying north of and nearly 
parallel to the main belt. The main copper belt has been traced for 
nearly a quarter of a mile, and absolutely identified for a distance of 
500 feet eastward from the No. 1 discovery shaft. Considerable pre¬ 
liminary surface work was done on the property to locate the copper¬ 
bearing formation and establish the trend and character of the amyg¬ 
daloidal belts. The No. 1 shaft in the bed of Middle River was sunk 
one level and cross-cuts were driven north and south to show the width 
of the lode. Drifts were then driven twenty-five feet along the lode 
eastward and also about the same distance westward. The whole lode 
carries copper, but not uniformly. The east drift shows a face about 
six feet which averages by assay over one per cent, with a pay streak 
about two feet wide yielding about three per cent. The No. 5 shaft is 
on the same lode, 500 feet farther east. The lode shows the same width 
and trend at this point and is more clearly defined and richer. This 
shaft is down about 50 feet. The other work has been on the smaller 
lodes paralleling the main lode and south of it. These seem to have a 
higher dip than the main lode, and it is thought that with depth the 
lodes will all unite and form a strong, richly mineralized vein. The 
North Wisconsin lode is claimed by some authorities to be a fissure 
vein heading with the formation. The work done at present is not 
sufficient to establish this point. The company has a good organiza¬ 
tion. Ample buildings have been provided and the transportation 
facilities are excellent, the mine being within three miles of three 
main lines of railroad. The Middle River supplies ample water for 
milling, and water power with a 20-foot head is available at the mine. 


176 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


Starkweather mine* 

The old Wisconsin location, which three years ago was opened up 
by Charles S. Starkweather, then mayor of Superior, has passed 
into control of the Boston & Lake Superior Copper Mining Company, 
a Boston company of which the officers are: President, Henry 
Ives Turner, Boston; secretary, B. C. Cooke, Superior; treasurer, 
C. H. Cobb, Boston. The capital stock is $1,250,000, divided into 
50,000 shares of $25 each. The property has always shown much prom¬ 
ise. A well defined lode bearing northeasterly and dipping 75 degrees 
to the south exists. This lode yields coarse copper and some masses, 
and is well mineralized. The country rock is a fine-grained diabase, 
and the lode is an epidotic amygdaloid with calcite and prehnite asso¬ 
ciated with the copper. Two shafts, one 70 feet deep and the other 60, 
have been sunk on the property, also a number of pits to locate the 
lode. The 60-foot shaft cuts the lode and shows in the section about 
a six-foot lode, yielding, on an average assay, nearly one per cent of 
copper. A second lode parallel to the first is shown by test-pitting. 
This also bears copper at the surface. The property is located in 
section 2, town 47, range 13, in the same locality as the North Wiscon¬ 
sin and the Fond du Lac, and has like excellent transportation 
facilities. 


N 


Zbc Fond du Eac. 

The old Fond du Lac location, which was selected by the earliest 
prospectors from Ontonagon, Michigan, as a favored locality for cop¬ 
per, is now owned by the Superior & Boston Copper Mining Company. 
This company has a capital of $1,500,000 with the shares of a par 
value of $1.00. The officers are: Joseph Tuteur, president; A. S. 
Andrews, vice-president; Ernest A. Arnold, treasurer; M. C. French, 
secretary; all of Superior, Wisconsin. The company owns 320 
acres in section 8, town 47, range 13. Captain John M. Thomas of Cal¬ 
umet, Michigan, has been engaged to take charge of the work of devel¬ 
opment. Three lodes cross the property. The Parker, or No. 1, lode 
is from 10 to 12 feet wide, extending across the property from the cen¬ 
ter of the section in a northeasterly direction. There is a shaft down 
60 feet on this lode. The dip of the formation and of the lode, or bed, 











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MAP 


UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY (.COPY) 

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Keweenawn Capper—Bearing Formation 








































































































































































































































































































































































































































































PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


177 


are the same, the angle being 45 degrees to the south. Average assays 
of the vein show that it carries three-eighths of one per cent copper, 
and the pay streak, nearly three feet wide, runs two per cent. The 
lode is about 10 feet wide and extends parallel with No. 1, one-fourth 
of a mile north. This lode carries copper from footwall to hanging. 
The hanging and foot walls are clearly defined. The vein matter is an 
epidotic amygdaloid. The pay streak in this vein is about two and 
one-half feet wide and carries copper in large nuggets, some of them 
weighing a half pound or more, others the size of a pea, and they ap¬ 
pear to be evenly distributed. The balance of the lode carries copper in 
very fine particles. The shaft is 75 feet deep, and shows better at bot¬ 
tom than at the surface. Lode No. 3 is further north. It is about 
two feet wide and carries various ores of copper at the surface. The 
matter is amygdaloid. The country rock is a melaphyr. The location 
is situated four miles from the Nemadji river, which would furnish 
an abundance of water for stamp mills and other purposes connected 
with mining, and is only six miles from Allouez bay, one of the 
branches of Superior harbor. The Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic 
Railway runs within one and one-half miles of the property; the Chi¬ 
cago, St. Paul, Minnesota & Omaha Railway line is but half a mile dis¬ 
tant, and a spur five miles in length from the Great Northern would 
reach the property. The company has made plans to push develop¬ 
ment work under the direction of Captain Thomas. Of the capital 
stock, 500,000 shares are set aside for development purposes. Enough 
surface work will be done to determine the exact extent and nature of 
the lode as far as practicable. The shafts already down will be ex¬ 
tended and the formation crosscut to determine the course and value 
of the lodes. 


Cbe Culligati. 

This property is in section 31, town 47, range 14. No work has 
been done on it for several years. An effort is being made to straight¬ 
en out the difficulties between parties interested in it, and organize a 
company to develop it. The copper-bearing bed is exposed in a creek 
gully, and shows an epidotic amygdaloid with shot copper. The direc¬ 
tion of the amygdaloid seems to be about 20 degrees north of east; its 
width at the exposure is about 6 feet. The lode has been traced 200 feet 
on the surface. This is the farthest west of any of the prospects on the 
Douglas range and lies lowest in the copper-bearing series on the range. 
Not enough work has been done to determine the extent or value of 
the prospect. 

12 



178 COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


$t* Croix Consolidated Copper mines* 

This company is incorporated under the laws of Wisconsin with a 
capital stock of $2,500,000, shares $1 each. The company is officered 
by Milwaukee and eastern capitalists. The lands of the company and 
the preparation thereof have been handled by Ernest A. Arnold of 
Superior, Wisconsin. The company has a body of land exceeding 20,000 
acres in townships 43, 44, 45, ranges 13, 14, 15 west, respectively; and 
in the adjoining townships in Pine county, in range 16 west. In gen¬ 
eral, the lands of the company lie just north of the St. Croix river and 
westward from the central part of Douglas county. 

This corporation is organized as a promoting and development 
company, it not being the intention of the parties associated in it that 
it shall engage in mining. One-half of the capital stock has been 
placed in the treasury for the purpose of securing other lands and in¬ 
terests in lands within the copper belt in the St. Croix locality. The 
company has engaged a corps of competent prospectors to determine 
the value of the different prospects on its lands. These will then be 
presented to capitalists and companies interested in copper mining 
propositions. The lands of the company lie wholly on the Kewee- 
nawan formation and are situated relatively in the same position on 
this formation as is the mining zone on the Keweenawan peninsula. 

The St. Croix locality is drained by streams very close together 
crossing the formation, and in the beds of the creeks and streams the 
members of the series are well exposed for long stretches; thus a 
cross-section of the series as exposed in this way shows, approach¬ 
ing the locality from the south, first, the sandstone and conglomerates 
of the Upper Division of the Keweenawan series; succeeding these 
in order are beds of shale, then a well defined bed of diabase (the 
greenstone of the Michigan region); then a well defined melaphyr belt, 
followed by alternating beds of melaphyr and conglomerates. The 
most northerly beds are coarser and mostly diabase. The whole series 
in this locality is amygdaloidal and carries native copper and the asso¬ 
ciate minerals of copper in nearly every exposure. 

The beds of the formation are comparatively thin and regular and 
the whole formation in this locality is continuous and undisturbed. 
The dip of the beds is southeast at a low angle, about 12 to 20 degrees. 

The most promising rocks lie directly below the first diabase mem¬ 
ber and constitute a clearly defined amygdaloidal melaphyr belt. 
There seems to be little doubt but that this belt corresponds geolog¬ 
ically with the belt in the Michigan district in which most of the pro¬ 
ductive mines are found. Professor T. C. Chamberlin in Irving’s Mon- 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


179 


ograph, referring to the melaphyr from this St. Croix belt, says: 
“This is the typical Keweenaw Point melaphyr and identical with 
stratum 108 of the Eagle River section.” In the quotation in a pre¬ 
ceding paragraph in this article, Irving says: “The St. Croix district 
in the vicinity of Snake and Kettle rivers and thence northeastward 
into Douglas county still lies almost wholly unexplored, while promis¬ 
ing more to the copper hunter than any other portion of the forma¬ 
tion outside the state of Michigan.” 

The company has at least ten prospects on the lands it now owns 
and the promoters are confident that a small amount of intelligent 
work will develop promising prospects in many other localities. The 
St. Croix district is well watered, easily accessible, and undoubtedly 
promises very much in the development of the copper mining industry 
in the Western Lake Superior district. 


Cbe Bardon. 

A promising prospect at the Upper Black River Falls which James 
Bardon is developing is known as the Bardon mine. It is in section 28, 
town 47, range 14. This prospect was discovered by Professor A. 
H. Hanschett, one of the early Minnesota geologists, about 30 years ago, 
when the Copper Creek operations were under way. A little work was 
done and some fine specimens of copper were obtained. Knowledge of 
the exact locality of this mine was lost until about two years ago, when 
Mr. Bardon made re-search for it, assisted by the recollections of some 
of the men who had worked at Copper Creek when the locality was vis¬ 
ited by Professor Hanschett. The old pits were found and some pros¬ 
pecting was done, with very satisfactory results. Work on the pros¬ 
pect will be commenced this summer. The property is owned by Mr. 
Bardon and includes 300 acres. The copper occurs in an amygdaloidal 
formation. 


Cbe Cascade Copper mining Company. 

The only company operating east of the Brule river on the Doug¬ 
las range is the Cascade Copper Mining Company. This company, now 
in process of organization, is controlled largely by Superior capital. 
Walter Fowler secured the land and is in charge of the organization 
and development. The company has 400 acres in section 23, town 48, 




180 COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 

range 10. The capital stock of the company is 100,000 shares, $25 per 
share. The main lode of the Percival, which crosses the Brule river in 
a northeasterly direction, runs across the Cascade property and out¬ 
crops in two places, showing some rich rock, with coarse and barrel cop¬ 
per. This property joins the Percival on the northeast and the Brule 
river runs through it for half a mile, affording ample water and power 
for the mine. The company will commence exploratory work at once. 


Cbe 3obn Jacob Jlstor mine* 

The old mine of the North American Fur Company in section 28, 
town 48, range 10 will be opened up this summer. The land belongs to 
James Bardon, who will thoroughly examine and prospect it. This 
prospect lies just west of the Percival mine on the Douglas range. 


Cbe Copper Hina* 

Early in 1899 the Copper King Mining and Townsite Company was 
organized, with a capital of $1,000,000, to purchase and develop a copper 
prospect just south of the North Wisconsin mine. The company owns 
160 acres and has options on adjoining land. Some outcroppings of 
amygdaloid, bearing copper, similar to those on the North Wisconsin 
vein, are on the property. It is proposed to begin work there. The 
North Wisconsin vein, which dips south, is probably accessible on this 
property. The company is also interested in a townsite which will be 
located on the line of the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railroad, 
and on its holdings. The officers of the company are F. J. Wildner, 
president; George S. Doud, vice-president; H. W. Nichols, secretary; 
W. B. McGibbon, treasurer, all of Superior, Wisconsin. 


Cbe gatlim 

The Catlin location is adjacent to the Starkweather on the south. 
Several shallow pits have been sunk. The copper occurs in fine par¬ 
ticles in a pinkish amygdaloidal rock. Not enough work has been 
done on this prospect to determine the extent of the lode. 





PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


181 


Zb e Badger. 

Another new company which expects to do some extensive work 
this year is the Badger Copper Mining Company. This company owns 
210 acres in section 8, town 47, range 12, adjoining the North Wisconsin 
on the west. The officers of the company are: President, B. J. Van 
Yleck; secretary, F. H. Ruger; both of Superior. The capital is 
$2,500,000, one-third of the capital stock, which has a par value of $1.00 
a share, being in the treasury for development purposes. The main 
lode of the North Wisconsin crosses the property. Some preliminary 
explorations show very satisfactory results. 


Illitiotig Range. 

The Minong Range has attracted the attention of the prospectors 
during recent months. Some promising discoveries have been made 
in town 48, range 10, in Douglas county. Across the line in Bayfield 
county are located the Montrose and Great Western prospects, which 
were partially opened up about ten years ago. The Montrose is located 
in section 12, town 44, range 9. An amygdaloid and a conglomerate 
lode, both copper-bearing, are found on the property. The assays 
show from two-thirds of 1 per cent to 3 per cent copper and some sil¬ 
ver. The original company went under in the panic of 1893. The 
property is now under option to a company which proposes to further 
develop it. The Great Western, which is near the Montrose, is a 
property on which local parties have done some work. 


north Shore Copper mining Company* 

During the past few years several parties have been at work on the 
copper prospects on the north shore of the lake above Duluth about 
twenty miles. The formation is identical with the Douglas range and 
a continuation of it. A company is now at work at Knife river. 


Che Copper Creek. 

The lands of the old Copper Creek Mining Company are under op¬ 
tion to a syndicate of which Elmer E. Barton is the head. Arrange¬ 
ments are being made to prospect and develop this property at once. 





182 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


The old workings will be reopened, and sufficient work done at once to 
locate the lode which gave so much encouragement to the early-day 
miners in that locality. 


Other Localities, 

On the Snake and Kettle Rivers in Minnesota the Keweenawan 
rocks have been prospected for copper with some promise. The forma¬ 
tion at Taylor’s Falls in Wisconsin has been worked to some extent. 
Several prospects in Burnett county, notably at Trade Lake, are likely 
to be tested the coming summer. The whole Keweenawan formation, 
from the Michigan line across northern Wisconsin into Minnesota, 
shows at many places outcroppings of copper which will be investi¬ 
gated during the current year. 



PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


183 


Cake Superior north Shore minerals. 


By horace 3. Stevens. 


In the western half of the southern shore of Lake Superior is 
stretched one of the greatest mineral districts of the known world, 
the section named being pre-eminent in the production of both copper 
and iron, while gold, silver, lead and other metals are found in consid¬ 
erable quantities. The northern shore of Lake Superior is, perhaps, 
equally rich in mineral wealth—its metalliferous resources are known 
to be vast in quantity and widely distributed in area—but it has 
lacked the stimulus of Yankee capital and Yankee enterprise in the 
development of its mineral deposits. The international boundary 
line, roughly speaking, bisects the lake, although Minnesota owns a 
portion of the northern shore. Canada is a country of large area but 
comparatively scant population, and greater in undeveloped resources 
than in available wealth. Had the showing of mineral values of the 
north shore been made on the southern shore, far greater develop¬ 
ment would certainly have been reached by the present time. 

A brief reference to mineral deposits other than those of copper 
may be pardoned. The Mesaba and Vermilion iron ranges of Minne¬ 
sota, which lie between Lake Superior and the head waters of the 
Mississippi, and to the northward of Duluth, have a future competitor 
in the Atikokan iron district of Algoma. The report has gone forth, 
presumably from interested sources, that all Atikokan ores contain 
titanic acid, the element titanium being of most refractory nature 
and preventing the successful reduction of ores into the composition 
of which it largely enters. That titanic ores exist in the Atikokan 
cannot be denied; but they are also found largely in Minnesota, and 
in years probably not far distant the Atikokan iron range of Canada 
will be found supplementing the product of the Marquette, Menomi¬ 
nee, Gogebic, Vermilion and Mesaba iron ranges, which lie within the 
boundaries of the United States, on the shore of Lake Superior. 

The Rainy Lake, or Seine River, gold district, the best mines of 
which are located on the Canadian side of the international boundary 
line, gives promise of great future development, Several of the mines, 




184 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


notably the Sultana, have long since passed the experimental stage 
and pay dividends regularly. 

There is also gold in the neighborhood of Fort William and Port 
Arthur. These thriving towns of the Canadian Northwest are located 
upon Thunder Bay, eighty miles north of Houghton as the crow flies, 
and, in addition to their commercial importance and mineral wealth, 
afford some of the most magnificent scenery to be found upon the 
American continent. Thunder Cape, the island of the Sleeping Giant, 
and the peculiar flattened dome known as Table Mountain, are each 
more than a quarter of a mile in height, the two former rising sheer 
from the water in stupendous, perpendicular masses of basalt. The 
Kakabeka Falls of the Kaministiqua river, near Fort William, are also 
of marvelous beauty. Were this favored district within the regular 
routes of the summer tourist, its many charms would be as famous as 
they deserve to be. 

There are many indications of mineral wealth about the Pigeon 
river, which forms the boundary line between Minnesota and the Prov¬ 
ince of Ontario. To the eastward of Port Arthur lie the celebrated 
silver mines of the Rabbit Mountain district. These mines were ex¬ 
tensively worked by a Detroit company some twelve or fifteen years 
ago, but the fall in the price of silver caused a complete cessation of 
mining some years since. Silver Islet, lying just off Thunder Cape, 
was once considered the richest silver mine in the world, and during 
the few years before it was engulfed by the encroaching waters of 
Lake Superior it added a million dollars in white metal to the wealth 
of the world. 

On Michipicoten Island, Lake Superior, an appanage of the dis¬ 
trict of Algoma, province of Ontario, extensive development work is 
now under way by the “Standard Oil” copper interests. This island 
carries a continuation of the Keweenawan copper formation, with the 
important distinction that the copper-bearing lodes are all located on 
the reverse fold of the synclinal, whereby the dip of the copper-bear¬ 
ing beds is to the southward instead of to the northward, as on the 
Keweenaw peninsula. Private advices recently received by the writer 
are to the effect that of the two shafts now being sunk on the island, 
one is of almost phenomenal richness in native copper. 

Another mineral district in Canada that bids fair to soon receive 
no little attention is found in the neighborhood of Lake Timagami. 
This lake has about five hundred miles of coast line and contains four¬ 
teen hundred islands. It is considered by sportsmen and others who 
have been there the most beautiful sheet of water in North America. 
Last fall large deposits of gold-bearing mispickel ore, copper and iron 
were discovered in its neighborhood, and the district is now regarded 
as affording a most alluring field for prospectors. The ore is of low 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


185 


grade, and the deposits would have to be worked on an extensive scale 
to ensure profitable results. This would call for a heavy investment 
of capital, but with proper skill and management the returns would 
be sure and ample. The lake is about thirty miles west of the Upper 
Ottawa river, near the Canadian boundary between the provinces of 
Ontario and Quebec. It lies north of the Soo line of railway, and 
about half way between Sault Ste. Marie and Montreal. 

Early in the latter half of the present century, when the pioneer 
mines of Michigan were beginning to demonstrate their wonderful rich¬ 
ness, the first copper mine of the Canadian Northwest was opened. 
This was located on the Canadian shore of the Sainte Marie river, the 
stream which empties Lake Superior into Lake Huron, and which all 
experienced judges of scenery rank with the Thousand Islands of the 
St. Lawrence for beauty of land and water, shore and island, sky and 
stream. This property, known as the Bruce mines, developed exten¬ 
sive deposits of copper ore, yellow and grey sulphurets. Appliances for 
smelting, and even for matting, were lacking in those days, and it was 
necessary to select the richer ore by hand-picking and ship the result¬ 
ing product to Swansea for smelting. The expense of mining in a new 
and wild country was necessarily great, while the cost of shipping the 
ore down the Sainte Marie river, through Lakes Huron, St. Clair, Erie 
and Ontario, with their connecting rivers, through the shallow Wel¬ 
land Canal, down the turbulent St. Lawrence, a stream in itself 2,000 
miles in length, through the Lachine rapids, a veritable marine grave¬ 
yard, with the cost of trans-shipment at Quebec for the long voyage 
across the stormy Atlantic to Wales, proved greater than the mines 
could bear. The property was worked quite extensively at various 
periods but never with financial success, although the production of 
copper was by no means inconsiderable. The Bruce mines are at pres¬ 
ent owned by Lord Douglas of Hawick, as the title appears in Burk’s 
and De Brett’s peerages, but the gentleman in question is known in 
America as Lord Sholto Douglas. This affable scion of nobility has 
within the past year made quite frequent visits to the Michigan cop¬ 
per district, with a view to posting himself upon American copper 
mining methods, and now has plans well under way for the early re¬ 
sumption of mining at his property upon a large and thoroughly mod¬ 
ern scale, and with the advantages, never before enjoyed by the mines, 
of ample capital and Yankee mining machinery. 

The most successful mines on the north shore of Lake Superior, if not 
the richest and most profitable in British America outside of Dawson 
City and its environs, is located at Sudbury, seventy miles east of 
Sault Ste. Marie, on the Canadian Pacific Railway. The mines are 
owned by a Cleveland company in which John D. Rockefeller is a 
large shareholder. That the Sudbury mines have not attracted great 


186 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


attention in both Canada and the United States is due partly to their 
location, which is not on the line of extensive travel, but principally 
to the disinclination for publicity of the owners. They have a good 
thing—one of the best, in a moderate way, to be found anywhere—and 
they are naturally averse to notoriety. The Sudbury properties are 
known as nickel mines, but copper is a very-extensive by-product—so 
great a one, in fact, that were no nickel whatever saved from this ore 
the copper alone, at present market prices, would return handsome 
profits. It is probable that the Sudbury ores yield about the same 
percentage of copper—70 pounds per ton—as is secured from the rock 
of the Calumet & Hecla mine, this supposition being based upon ex¬ 
tensive assays from a neighboring property, the “Great Lakes”, the 
least productive assay of which has given 68 pounds of copper to the 
ton. 

The Sudbury ores are matted at the mines, being roasted in large 
heaps near the shafts, the resulting sulphur fumes being as marked in 
in the atmosphere as is the case near the great smelters at Butte, 
Anaconda and Great Falls, where the Montana cupriferous ores are 
reduced. 

The matte of the Sudbury mines is shipped to this country for 
smelting; and upon this point a very sharp “difference of opinion” has 
arisen between the owners of the mines and the Canadian officials. 
The 1898 report of the Sudbury company shows that the expenses of oper¬ 
ation were, approximately, $400,000, while the value of the product reach¬ 
ed $950,000, giving an ostensible profit of over half a million dollars on 
last year’s operations. This report has been sharply criticised by the 
Canadian official in charge of the Bureau of Mines and Minerals, that au¬ 
thority going so far as to say over his own signature that the value of the 
metals produced at Sudbury last year was far in excess of the amount re¬ 
ported, adducing custom-house figures which have led him to infer that 
the actual mineral production was practically double what the company 
reported. If he be right, the profits last year must have reached nearly 
one and a half millions. Leaving the reticent owners and the irate 
Canadian official to fight out the controversy with pen and ink, or 
otherwise, the comfortable fact remains that the Sudbury, at the low¬ 
est calculation of profits, ranked last year among the fifty most profit¬ 
able mines of the world, a truth which does more to establish the im¬ 
portance of the mineral values of the north shore of Lake Superior 
than reams of written paper or tons of printed documents. 


Che Great Cakes Property* 

In the neighborhood of Sudbury there are perhaps a half dozen 
other mines and prospects not owned by the Cleveland syndicate, which 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


-187 


by the way, controls the American supply of nickel as securely as the 
Standard Oil Company controls the refining and marketing of Ameri* 
can petroleum. Of these adjacent properties, the most promising is 
that owned by the Great Lakes Company, in which John McKinley, of 
Duluth, is interested. The Great Lakes Company has gone about its de¬ 
velopment work in a systematic manner, having the benefit of Mr. Mc¬ 
Kinley’s experience, he having been one of the half dozen men who 
were most prominent early in the present decade in the opening and 
development of the Mesaba iron range, now the most productive 
iron ore district in the world. 

Among the numerous assaj^s made of copper ores from the Great 
Lakes property, perhaps the most important and fairest average analy¬ 
sis is that of Professor Anton Graf, the government expert who is 
in charge of the armor-plate tests for the department of war. The 
rock assayed was secured by sampling the copper-ore bed across the en¬ 
tire width, every effort being made to secure average, rather than ex¬ 
ceptionally rich, specimens. Professor Graf’s assay returned, per ton 
of ore, 68 pounds of copper, 30 pounds of nickel, 9 ounces of silver and 
84.15 in gold. As nickel now sells at 38 cents per pound, just double the 
price of copper, the resulting values are equivalent to about S33 per ton, 
or the equivalent of 8i per cent copper in a Michigan mine, figuring 
the metal at the current price of 19 cents per pound. The actual per¬ 
centages per ton are not quite three and one-half per cent in copper 
and exactly one and one half percent in nickel, which, as that metal is 
double the value of copper, is equivalent to three per cent of copper. 

The property of The Great Lakes Copper Company is situated in 
the township of Davis, district of Kipissing, province of Ontario, Can¬ 
ada, and is about twenty-five miles east of northeast from Sudbury, 
and fifteen miles north from Markstay, on the Canadian Pacific Rail¬ 
way. The property contains about 2,300 acres, to which the title is 
perfect. 

There are numerous outcroppings on the property from which 
samples may be taken, and by means of which the general trend of 
the mineral-bearing veins and deposits may be traced. The veins 
thus far discovered are as follows: On the north half of lots 9 and 10 
of the third concession is a vein of white quartz averaging six feet in 
width and trending about north 60 degrees west. Branching from 
this body similar veins, varying in width from 10 to 24 feet, have been 
found parallel with each other and striking about east and west. 
The principal vein has been traced for over one-quarter of a mile. So 
far as sampled and assayed, these veins show a value of $8 and 
over per ton in gold, with two per cent of copper. On the south half 
of the above described lots is found another vein trending about north 
30 degrees east, and known as the Mt. Etna vein. A shaft located 


188 


COPPER MINING INDUSTRY OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 


about the centre of lot 9 has been sunk to a depth of 40 feet, and out 
of this shaft a large amount of almost pure yellow copper sulphuret has 
been taken. This rich ore gave an average value of about twenty-five 
per cent in copper. The pay streak is about five feet wide, but the 
vein is mineralized throughout for the full width of fifteen feet. 
About 2,000 feet from this shaft in a westerly direction on the vein is 
the Mt. Etna shaft, on which work is now in progress at a depth of 
about 40 feet. The vein at this point is about 15 feet wide between 
walls of silicious diorite, and is a beautiful brecciated formation of 
soft, black dioritic feldspar, white sugary quartz, with a large amount 
of copper sulphuret. This vein is nearly vertical. The assays give 
from five to seven per cent in copper, with a by-product of gold 
sufficient to pay the cost of production. The mineral in this vein can 
be mined very cheaply, and the surface conditions are such as to facil¬ 
itate concentration or reduction operations. 

On lots 9 and 10 of the property occur very large deposits. The 
ores exposed are a third of a mile in width and a mile in length. 
From this particular deposit assays show a value of 4 per cent in cop¬ 
per and $6 and over per ton in gold. Many test pits were sunk on this 
particular deposit, and the showing proves it to be thoroughly miner¬ 
alized. 

Another similar deposit exists on the north end of lots 12 and 13 
of the first concession. This deposit would appear to cover about 100 
acres of the property. From this deposit no assays have been made, 
but it bears a full resemblance to the former, and is apparently as 
richly mineralized. Panning tests of the crushed rock show gold to 
exist quite abundantly in this large deposit, in addition to a high 
percentage of copper. 

A prominent mining man who recently visited this property ex¬ 
pressed the opinion that it presents most extraordinary facilities for 
quarrying out the ores, as a face elevation can be easily secured from 
80 to 100 feet high, where the ores can be stoped off at an extremely 
low cost. In general, these deposits carry iron in approximately suffi¬ 
cient quantity for fluxing, and some lime is present in the form of 
calcspar. The large percentage of sulphur contained in these ores 
could readily be made of commercial value if proper appliances for 
saving it were employed. 

The country generally is a wooded region, so that fuel can be 
cheaply obtained. Two large water powers exist within four or five 
miles of the principal workings. A good road connects the property 
with the railroad at Markstay, and nine miles of roads have been 
made on the land for the purpose of securing timber and for other 
uses. The general formation of the country is such that a branch 
railroad to connect the property with the Canadian Pacific could be 
constructed cheaply and with very easy grades. 


PRODUCING AND PROSPECTIVE COPPER MINES. 


189 


There are at present working on the property about forty-five 
men, and camp accommodations have been provided for about sev¬ 
enty-five. Two good blacksmith shops have been built and equipped, 
stables and store houses for storing supplies have been put up, and all 
other essentials for the conduct of operations on a large scale have 
been provided. The management has recently stocked the property 
with provisions and mining supplies in sufficient quantity to permit 
of operations being carried on extensively this season. 

The company will be organized under the laws of Michigan (which 
are exceptionally fair and safe for investors), with a capital of 100,000 
shares, having a par value of 810 each. One quarter of the total issue 
of stock, viz., 25,000 shares, will be offered for public subscription, 
and the total proceeds from the sale of this amount of stock will be 
placed in the treasury for working capital. The company will 
immediately proceed to put the property in condition for the produc¬ 
tion of gold and copper on a large scale. With the immense bodies of 
ore already exposed, and deposits of such extent so placed that they 
can be easily mined, there are years of work in sight there for a smelt¬ 
er of the largest capacity, and but little difficulty should be experienced 
in putting the property in condition to earn handsome dividends for 
the company’s shareholders. The Great Lakes’ property is owned by 
and its development will be under the direction of American mining 
men of experience and ability, and with ample capital at their com¬ 
mand it may be confidently expected that they will make it a large 
and profitable producer at a not distant day. 

The mineral resources of the north shore of Lake Superior, in iron, 
copper, gold, silver and nickel are of such great promise, and have giv¬ 
en such large and satisfactory returns upon meager investments of 
labor and capital, that there is no rashness in the prediction that 
within another decade the mines of Northwestern Ontario will enable 
that district to rank among the really great mining fields of the world. 



Index 


Page. 

Historical. 1- 48 

Early discoveries, etc.; First Soo Canal; Geological Surveys; Mining 
Permits and Land Titles; Inauguration of Practical Mining; Copper 
in Ontonagon County; Production and Capitalization; Transporta¬ 
tion Facilities in the Early Days; Pioneers of the Copper District; 
Fluctuations in Price of Copper; Improvement in Mining Methods; 

Silver taken from Copper Mines; Characteristics of the Copper 
Lodes. 


Geology of the Mineral Range . 

. 49-60 

Statistics of Copper Production, Etc . 

. 61-73 

Producing and Prospectiye Copper Mines . 

. 75-189 

Houghton County Properties. 


.‘ 77-130 

Calumet & Hecla. 

. 77 

Tecumseh. 

. 121 

Tamarack. 

. 85 

Trimountain.... 

. 122 

Quincy. 

. 89 

Rhode Island... 

. 122 

Osceola. 

. 93 

Oneco. 

. 123 

Wolverine . 

. 97 

Copper Range... 

. 124 

Franklin. 

. 99 

Onondago. . 

. 125 

Atlantic. 

. 102 

Wyandot...__ 

.. 126 

Isle Royal. 

. 106 

South Range.... 

. 126 

Arcadian.. 

. 109 

Kaukauna . 

. 127 

Baltic... 

. 113 

Elm River. 

. 128 

Winona.. 

. 115 

Hancock. 

. 129 

Centennial. 

. 118 

South Side. 

. 129 

Old Colony. 

. 120 

Miners’. 

. 130 

Mayflower. 

.121 

Standard. 

. 130 

Keweenaw County 

Properties . 


Arnold. 

. 131 

Winthrop. 

. 141 

Allouez. 

. 133 

Meadow. 

. 142 

Mohawk. 

. 133 

Washington .... 

. 142 

East Mohawk.. — 

. 135 

Humboldt... 

. ! 143 

Phoenix Consolidated.... 135 

Ahmeek. 

. 143 

Conglomerate. 

. 138 

Eagle Harbor... 

. 143 

North Clift’. 

. 139 

St. Clair. 

. 144 

Ashbed . 

. 140 

Star. 

. 144 

Central. 

. 141 



Ontonagon County 

Properties 



Adventure Consolidated. 148 

National. 

. 160 

Mass Consolidated. 

. 150 

Wahnita. 


Michigan. 

. 153 

Other Ontonagon Proper- 

Victoria. 


ties. 

. 162 


Belt. . 158 

Western Lake Superior District.... 164-182 

Somewhat historical; Early attempts at mining; Geology of the dis¬ 
trict; Mining facilities. 


Percival Mine. 

.... 173 

John Jacob Astor_ 

.... 180 

North Wisconsin. 

.... 175 

Copper King. 

.... 180 

Starkweather. 

.... 176 

Catlin. 

.... 180 

Fond du Lac___ 

.... 176 

Badger .. 

.... 181 

Cuiligan. 

.... 177 

Minong Range. 

.... 181 

St Croix. 

.... 178 

North Shore. 


Bardon. 

.... 179 

Copper Creek. 

. ... 181 

Cascade. 

... 179 

Other Localities___ 

,... 182 


Lake Superior North Shore Minerals... 183-189 













































































♦♦Fraser $ Chalmers^ 


gbacago, TIK t tl. $♦ Jl. 

WILL BE PLEASED TO SUBMIT QUOTATIONS ON MINING MACHINERY. THEY 
HAVE RECENTLY SUPPLIED SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MACHINERY 
INSTALLED IN LAKE SUPERIOR MINES. INCLUDING: 



Steam Stamps 

for the 

Tamarack 
Mining Co 

which have the 
largest capacity 
of any 
in the 
Lake 
Regions 
«« 

Hoisting 
Engines 
for the 
Atlantic, 

Mohawk 
and 
other 
Mines. 


RIEDLER 

Pumping Engines 

for the 
CHAPIN MINES. 

The most 
powerful deep 
) mine 
Pumps 
in the 
world, 
dis¬ 
placing 
less 
econ¬ 
omical 
and 

efficient 
Mach¬ 
inery. 


Steam Stamp for the Camarack mining Company. 

Capacity, nearly 500 tons per day. 








DULUTH, SOUTH SHORE & ATLANTIC R’Y 



IS THE ONLY LINE REACHING THE COPPER DISTRICT OF 
THE LAKE SUPERIOR COUNTRY. 

It is the most Direct Route 

BETWEEN 

ftHCTHN / THE copper shares \ 
ijUOlUlT \MARKET OF THE WORLD/* 


the CALUMET & HECLA, and the other great copper 

MINES OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN. 


Boston & Maine R. R.- Boston to Newport, Vt. 

Canadian Pacific R’y—Newport, Vt., to Sault Ste. Marie. 

Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic R’y—Sault Ste. Marie to Calumet. 

Only one change of cars, ancl that at the Union Station, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. 
Canadian Pacific Sleeping Cars between Boston and Sault Ste. Marie. Wagner 
Palace Sleeping Cars between Sault Ste. Marie and Calumet. Rate per berth 
through, Boston to Calumet, $7.00. 


SCH E DU LE--APRIL, 1899! 


AVESTBOUND. 

Lve BOSTON. 9:00 a.m. 

(Daily except Sunday.) 

Ait MARQUETTE.10:50 p.m. 

Arr HOUGHTON. 5:30 p.m. 

Arr CALUMET. 6:20 a.m. 

45 hours and 20 minutes Boston to Calumet. 


EASTBOUND. 

Lve CALUMET. 9:45 p.m. 

(Daily except Saturday.) 

Lve HOUGHTON.10:35 p.m. 

Lve MARQUETTE. 4:55 a.m. 

Arr BOSTON. 8:30 p.m. 

46 hours and 45 minutes Calumet to Boston. 


DIRECT LINE FROM THE ATLANTIC COAST TO 

MARQUETTE, 

THE QUEEN OF NORTHERN SUMMER RESORTS AND AMERICA'S 
GREAT HAY FEVER SANITARIUM. 


For further particulars and illustrated pamphlets, apply to D. S. S. & A. R’y agents, and to 


H. J. COLVIN, 

Dist. Pass. Agent, 

197 Washington St., BOSTON, MASS. 


GEO. W. HIBBARD, 

Gen'l Pass. Agent, 

MARQUETTE, MICH. 














FRASER & CHALMERS.. 


CHICAGO, ILL. 



13 


TRIPLEX DIFFERENTIAL RIEDLER PUMPING ENGINE. Capacity, 2,200 gals, per min., against a head 
of 1,700 ft. when running 74 revs, per min., driven by a Horizontal Triplex Tandem Compound Condensing 
Corliss Engine. Built by Fraser & Chalmers, for the Chapin Mining Co. 















M. VAN ORDEN, 

MANUFACTURE It 
...OF... 

—LIME-* 

AND WHOLESALE DEALER IN 


Coal, Cement, Plaster, Hair, Brick 
and Sewer Pipe. 


HOUGHTON, = = MICHIGAN. 


VAN ORDEN BROTHERS, 
General Insurance Agents. 

LIFE, FIRE, MARINE AND PLATE 
GLASS INSURANCE. 

mining Property and Earge Eines 

cur Specialty* 


Nat’l Bank Block. 


HOUGHTON, MICH. 













'FAMOUS FOR ITS PURITY " 


Superior Stock 


BEER IS UNSURPASSED IN PURITY, 
FLAVOR OR STRENGTH .v.v. THE FA¬ 
VORITE WHEREVER USED .v.-.v. SOLD 
EVERYWHERE IN KEGS AND BOTTLES 


BOSCH BREWING CO. LAKE LINDEN, MICH. 


..Xbe Euclid Bold... 

SUPERIOR, WISCONSIN, 

is but three minutes walk 
from the South Shore, 
Northern Pacific, C. & N. 
W. and Omaha Railway 
stations and the Lake Su¬ 
perior docks. It is nearer 
to the Wisconsin Copper 
Range than any other 
Hotel in Superior. Amer¬ 
ican plan. Rates, $2.00 
per day and upward. 



'.yvnv.: 




< 



























t_THE-* 

Marquette County Savings Bank, 

MARQUETTE, MICH. 


N. M. KAUFMAN, President. E. N. BREITUNG, Vice-President. 

S. R. KAUFMAN, 2nd Vice-Pres. GEORGE BARNES, Cashier. 

W. B. McCOMBS, Asst. Cashier. 


CAPITAL PAID IN, $100,000. SURPLUS, $10,000. 



Receives Deposits in sums from $1.00 upward 

Eoans money on Real Estate and other Approved Security. 

cccccccccccc Transacts a General Banking Business. 


SAFETY DEPOSIT BOXES IN PERFECTLY FIREPROOF 
SAFETY VAULT TO RENT. 


CHARLES J. HODGE, 

LAKE SUPERIOR IRON WORKS, 


Hougliton, Midi. 

— ■ -MANUFACTURER OF- 

General mining and milling machinery. 

FORGINGS, IRON AND BRASS CASTINGS, STEAM PUMPS, BRASS 
GOODS, WROUGHT IRON PIPE AND FITTINGS. 

Hodge’s Patent Grinding Mills for reducing coarse product of Steam Stamps. 

Hodge’s Patent Improved Jigs for systematic and economical Dressing of Minerals. 
Recent results prove them to be best machine made. 

Make a specialty of Chilled Stamp Shoes and Dies, and Hard Chilled Iron. 












=FARREL 


Ore and Rock 


CRUSHER 

• 

STANDARD OF THE 
WORLD. 


Havemeyer Building, New York 


SEND FOR COMPLETELY ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE OF HOISTING, 
CRUSHING AND MINING MACHINERY. 



BACON 

HOISTING 

ENGINES 

WITH 

SINGLE oi- 
DOUBLE 
DRUMS. 










HORACE J. STEVENS, 

HOUGHTON, 

MICH. 



Lake Superior 

Mines 

and 

Minerals. 

Correspondence 

Solicited. 


dan h. ball. 


J. E. BALL. 


BALL & BALL, 

Attorneys at Law, 

MARQUETTE, MICH. 

LAND TITLES, LAND LITIGATION and CORPORATION 

LAW A SPECIALTY. 


-REFER OF- 

J. M. LONGYEAR , Marquette, Mich. 

HORATIO SEYMOUR, Marquette, Mich. 

FRED H. BEGOLE, Marquette, Mich. 

THE KEWEENAW ASSOCIATION, LIMITED, Boston, Mass. 

THE MICHIGAN LAND & IRON CO., LTD., Marquette, Mich. 

THE MICHIGAN COPPER MINING CO., New York City. 

THE LAKE SUPERIOR IRON CO., Cleveland, Ohio. 


Peter iUbite # go* 

INSURANCE. 

MARQUETTE, - - MICHIGAN. 


Thirty-two Companies Represented, with Total Gross 
Assets of over $245,000,000.00. 


Aetna. 

Caledonian. 

Detroit Fire and Marine. 

Fire Association. 

Equitable. 

Globe. 

Hanover. 

Hartford. 

Home of New York. 

North America. 

Liverpool and London and Globe. 
Magdeburg. 

Manchester. 

National. 

North German. 

Northern. 

North British and Mercantile. 


New York Underwriters. 

Phenix of Brooklyn. 

Phoenix of Hartford. 

Phoenix of London. 

Philadelphia Underwriters. 

Scottish. 

Sun of New Orleans. 

Saginaw Valley. 

Transatlantic. 

Royal. __ 

United States Casualty Company. 
Hartford Steam Boiler Company. 

Aetna Indemnity Company. 

New Vork Plate Glass Company. 

The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance 
Company. 


LARGE LINES A SPECIALTY. 







WHEN YOU WANT SOME 
GOOD BRICK, ASK 


BRICIC-^ 


L’ANSE BRICK CO. 

FOR PRICES. 

P. R. McKERNAN, Sec’y, L’Anse, Mich. G. W. SHAW, Treas., Marquette, Mich. 


Bancroft Brick Yard, niarquette, 

can furnish at all times any quantity of No. 1 Common Brick. 

for prices ask.... G. W. SHAW, flarquette, flich. 


THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK, 

OF MARQUETTE, MICHIGAN. 

Organized January 22, 1864. 

Capital, $150,000. « « Surplus, $50,000. 


PETER WHITE, President. E. H. TOWAR, Vice-President. 

F. J. JENNISON, Cashier. EDW. S. BICE, Asst. Cashier. 

C. L. BRAINERD, Second Assistant Cashier. 

-DIRECTORS:- 

PETER WHITE. E. H. TOWAR. J. M. LONGYEAR. 

FREDERICK W. READ. JOSIAH G. REYNOLDS. 


*€be national Bank* 

OF HOUGHTON, MICHIGAN. 


Capital, $150,000. Surplus, $75,000. 


Officers: 

Z. W. WRIGHT, President. J. H. RICE, Cashier. 

J. H. SEAGER, Vice-President. J. L. REES, Ass’t Cashier. 


Directors: 

Z. W. WRIGHT. W. E. PARNALL. J. H. SEAGER. R. R. GOODELL. 
J. B. COOPER. T. L. CHADBOURNE. F. McM. STANTON. 












THE JEFFS’ LAND CO., LIMITED, 

ROCKLAND, MICH. 

Real Estate, Mineral Lands, Town Lots and Slip Clay. 

TOWN LOTS IN GREENLAND TOWNSHIP. 

BOARD OF MANAGERS: 

Wm. B. Jeffs, President. Ulysses S. Jeffs, Sec'y and Treas. Walter O. Jeffs. 


EDWARD N. BREITUNQ, 

MARQUETTE, MICH. 

mineral * and * timber « Eands. 

Cable Address— Edbee. Money Loaned on 

CODES: MINERAL AND TIMBER LANDS, 

Lieber’s. Bedford McNeill. v STOCK PILES, MINES, 

A. B. C. Universal Commercial. LUMBER AND LOOS. 


Ernest J. Dube. Will. C. Baudin. 

DUBE & BAUDIN, 


General Real Estate. 


Lands Examined and Reported upon. Taxes Paid for 
Non-Residents. Pine, Hemlock, Cedar, Hardwood and 
Farming Lands for Sale. 

Make a Specialty of Mineral Iiands and City Property. 

Office, National Bank Building. HOUGHTON, Houghton Co., MICH. 


"NEW INGERSOLL” * « 

ROCK DRILLS and AIR COMPRESSORS, 

- MANUFACTURED BY - 

The Ingehsoll- Sergeant Drill Go, 

Havemeyer Building, Old Colony Building, 

26 Courtlandt St., New York. 84 Van Buren St., CHICAGO. 






mills- Vards and Planing mills- 

Eagle Miles, Mich. Marquette, Mich. 

Michigamme, Mich. Ishpeming, Mich. 

F. 01. Read S, €o. 

(INCORPORATED) 


BILL TIMBER, T T T]\ /TT3 T) SASH, DOORS, 

SHINGLES, LATH. LJ 1VJL J3 JC/XV MOULDINGS, ETC. 

INTERIOR FINISH. 

I. X L. Polished Maple and Parquetry Flooring. Agents for 
C. J. L. Myer’s Specialties. 

AT OUR YARDS IN ISHPEMING WE CARRY LIME, FIRE BRICK, 

FIRE CLAY, CEMENT, ETC. 


Oeneral Office, - = Itlarquette, Itticb. 


JAS. PlCKANDS & CO. 

MARQUETTE, MICH. 

—MINERS AND SHIPPERS OP— 

HIGH GRADE 

ANTHRACITE and BITUMINOUS 


COAL. 





LAKE SUPERIOR POWDER CO., 

MARQUETTE, MICH. 


MANUFACTURES AND SELLS 

BLASTING POWDER 

IN KEGS, AND 

HIGH EXPLOSIVE POWDER 

OF ALL GRADES. 


C. H. CALL, J. G. REYNOLDS, GEORGE WALLACE, 

Prest. and Treas. Sec’y and Supt. Sales Agent. 


mineral and Cimber Sands 
In Michigan, Idaho, Oregon 
and Washington eeemee 


Mines Examined and Reports Furnished 

BY COMPETENT MEN ANYWHERE IN 
THE UNITED STATES. 

exploratory lUorH Supervised. 


Especial attention given to the NEW COPPER MINES OF 
ONTONAGON COUNTY, MICHIGAN, where some very re¬ 
markable discoveries are being made. This is the coming Cop¬ 
per district of Michigan, and merits the careful consideration 
of investors. 

CORRESPONDENCE SOLICITED. 

FRED. H. BEGOLE, 


For Sale 




MARQUETTE, 

MICHIGAN. 










Cake Shore Iron ttlorks 

»-marquette, ftlicb.-« 



MINING MACHINERY 


Winze Hoists. 

Car and Skip Wheels. 
Hoisting: Machinery. 
Rock and Ore Crushers. 
Chilled Castings. 
“Superior” 

Marine and Stationary 
Gasoline Engines. 


I. E. SWIFT CO. 

HEAVY HARDWARE, MINE MS MILL SUPPLIES 

Large and Complete Stock of Mining Supplies 
always in stock. 

112-114-116 W. BANK ST. ISHPEMING, MICH. 


Hearst & McKay, 

SAULT STE. MARIE, 

CANADA. 

BARRISTERS, SOLICITORS, ETC. 

SPECIAL ATTENTION GIVEN TO OBTAINING PATENTS TO MINERAL 
LANDS AND ORGANIZING MINING COMPANIES. 


COPPER, NICKEL AND OTHER MINERAL LANDS IN ONTARIO FQR SALE, 








Mining Journal Co., Ltd. 

Marquette, lllicb. 

»-PRINTERS-«, 




Books , 

Posters, 
Stationery, 

Mine Work, 
Legal Work , 
Railroad Work . 




Equipped to do printing promptly. 

Small orders, as well as large, appreciated. 


Send your order to us if you want the best work. 







RAND ROCK DRILLS 


AND DRILL MOUNTINGS. 


FOR MINES, QUARRIES, 
TUNNELS, ETC. 


A ¥ AND GAS 

AIR COMPRESSORS 

Simple and Multiple Stage. Beit or Rope Driven. 

Water Impulse Compressors. Simple, Compound or Triple Expansion Steam End. 

STANDARD TYPES. ALL SIZES. SPECIAL PATTERNS. 


Highest Degree of Perfection. 


Long 

Experience. 

Recognized 
Leaders , 




RAND DRILL CO. 


Mounted to Work in any Position. 

These machines are in constant use in 
all parts of the world, and are indispens- 
sable to mining plants. 




100 BROADWAY, 
NEW YORK, U. S. A. 
_ 
































fiUR Drills are in constant 
u use in all parts of the 
globe, and have attained a 
higher degree of perfection 
than any similar apparatus. 
These machines, with the 
air-compressing plant to 
operate them, are now in¬ 
dispensable in tunneling, 
mining and excavating. Our 
Drills are mounted to work 
in any position. 

Air and Gas Compressors. 
Simple or multiple stage. 
Belt or rope driven. Water 
Impulse Compressors. Sim¬ 
ple, compound or triple ex¬ 
pansion steam end. 


Kccegwlted Ccaders, 

Cong experience. 

Rand Drill Co. 

100 Broadway, New York. 











The 


Simple, 

Durable, 
Rapid and 

Economical* | 


EVERY MACHINE 
GUARANTEED. 


All Sizes carried 
in Stock . 


Sullivan 


Diamond 
and Rock 


Drills 


FOR 


PROSPECTING, 
SHAFT SINKING, 
TUNNELING 
AND MINING, 


CANNOT BE 
EXCELLED. 


Try them and be 
convinced. 


-MANUFACTURED BY 


Sullivan Machinery Co. 

54, 56, 58 and 60 North Clinton St., 

Chicago, Ill. 

Main Works: 

CLAREMONT, N. H. 

—BRANCHES:— 

NEW YORK —U Broadway. 

PITTSBURG, PA.—339 5th Avenue. 

ST. LOUIS, MO.—211 Lucas Avenue. 

DENVER, COLO.—332 ltth Street. 

SEND FOR SPECIAL CATALOGUES. 









LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 


0 002 959 025 4 m 


















































































































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